Have Danes become less generous?

Danes are no longer among the world’s most generous givers, according to a global index ranking people’s willingness to donate their time, money and assistance.

The 2015 World Giving Index from the Charities Aid Foundation report shows that Denmark plummeted significantly in comparison to other countries. 

 

“Ranked eighteenth in last year’s report, Denmark has fallen twenty-one places to thirty-ninth in the World Giving Index this year, reflecting a 10 percentage point drop in the proportion of people donating money, returning it to the level recorded in 2012,” the report read. 

 

As was the case last year, Myanmar and the United States topped the list and just five of the most generous countries are among the world’s 20 largest economies. The UK and the Netherlands were the most generous countries in Europe, ranked sixth and seventh respectively. 

 

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Denmark’s neighbours were also ranked significantly higher, with Norway taking 15th, Germany 20th and Sweden 28th. 

 

The World Giving Index is based on the percentage of people in a given month who donate their money to charity, their time to a volunteer cause or help a stranger. The index looked at charitable behaviour in 146 countries throughout the course of 2014.

 

Of the three behaviours, Danes were the most likely to donate their money, with 52 percent of Danish respondents reported that they had donated money within the last month. That number represented a ten percent drop from last year’s report. The willingness to help a stranger and volunteer time both fell by two percent. 

 

But just within the last three months, Danes have opened their pocketbooks to record tunes. In September, a televised fundraiser aired simultaneously on the the nation’s two dominant broadcasters brought in 86 million kroner ($13 million). In October, Danes gave a record 25.5 million kroner ($3.8 million) to the Red Cross and just this week they donated 20 million kroner to the Danish Refugee Council, the best result in 20 years.