The United States ties for fifth place with Switzerland in a new "World Giving Index 2010" (WGI 2010) report issued by the Charities Aid Foundation America (CAFAmerica), a member organization of the United Kingdom-based Charities Aid Foundation international network of offices. The review of the state of giving in 153 countries representing 95 percent of the globe's population is the most ambitious study of its kind to have ever been attempted.

The U.S. posted impressive numbers in all three WGI 2010 categories – with 60 percent in the U.S. giving to an organization, 39 percent volunteering time and 65 percent willing to help a complete stranger. The Index ranked Australia and New Zealand as the most charitable nations in the world, followed by Ireland and Canada in third and fourth place respectively.

The World Giving Index is the first survey on a large scale to capture information about charitable behavior in 153 countries, including many nations that have not been included in previous surveys on giving. The Index, compiled from data from an ongoing international Gallup survey, ranked the U.S. along with other countries in three categories: what percentage of the population donated to a charity; what percentage of the population volunteered time to an organization; and what percentage of the population helped a complete stranger or someone who they didn't know needed help.

First place ranks in the individual categories of the World Giving Index went to Malta with 83 percent of its population giving money, Turkmenistan with 61 percent volunteering time to a charity, and Liberia with 76 percent of its population willing to help a stranger.

"The World Giving Index is a broad-based survey and it provides a unique overview of global philanthropy. It will give many governments a means to set benchmarks for giving and define areas where improvement is needed," said CAFAmerica CEO Susan Saxon-Harrold. "Many countries at the bottom of the list benefit enormously from U.S. philanthropy. Our organization is helping U.S. donors give to some of those countries and it's important that Americans continue to build-up indigenous philanthropy in countries such as China, Russia and India."

CAF Director of Research Richard Harrison said: "The World Giving Index is the first time that the world has been able to have a view about how generous it is and the first time we can see truly global patterns of charitable behaviour. We hope that the Index can be used to progress philanthropy world wide, providing a benchmark for Governments to compare their country with peers and as act as a tool to aid the development of civil society in countries where a culture of giving is not well developed."

CAFAmerica President Janet Boyd said: "When it comes to philanthropy, Americans do a lot … and can always do more. This survey highlights the need to engage workers in volunteering via the corporate sector, young people by new social media channels, and older Americans by means that are both comfortable and familiar to them. In my view, no one should take a critical view of the U.S. fifth place rank in this report for a variety of reasons, but that also does not mean that we should be complacent as a nation when there is so much more that can be done."