December 7, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Americans donate a greater share of the country’s economic output to charity than do the residents of 11 other countries, according to a new study.
The report, by the Charities Aid Foundation, in Britain, found that giving in the United States equals 1.67 percent of
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ALSO SEE: Table: How Much Residents of Different Countries Give To Charity |
the nation’s gross domestic product. Britain was second among the 12 countries in the study, at 0.73 percent. France was last, at 0.14 percent.
Religious giving accounts for much of the difference between the United States and other nations, the study found.
About 60 percent of the variation between the United States and Britain, the report states, is due to the higher rate at which Americans donate to religious organizations.
The British give a much higher percentage of their donations to international causes, however, with 13 percent of all giving in Britain going overseas, compared with just 3 percent of American contributions.
The report found that charitable giving tends to make up a smaller percentage of a nation’s economic output in countries with higher tax levels, especially if tax money is used to finance insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare.
In the United States, for example, taxes account for 29.1 percent of all labor costs, the report found, the fourth lowest figure among the countries studied (only Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand had lower tax percentages).
The three highest tax percentages were in the countries with the three lowest giving rates: France, Germany, and Turkey.
Another important factor in the rate of giving, the report states, is the role that a nation’s citizens think charity should play in their society.
Countries like the Netherlands, France, and Sweden have somewhat lower giving rates, it says, because their residents have a strong belief that government, not charities, should provide for social needs.
The Charities Aid Foundation works with individuals, companies, and charities in Britain to facilitate charitable giving. The report is available on its Web site.
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HOW MUCH RESIDENTS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES GIVE TO CHARITY
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