The UK and Ireland are the fourth most generous nations in terms of giving money to charity, the latest World Giving Index suggests.
The two countries came joint-fourth for monetary donations in the annual poll of 135 nations surveyed by Gallup.
Myanmar topped the table for giving money, with 91 per cent of its population saying they gave to charity in the previous month.
The Gallup survey measures three indicators of generosity – giving money, giving time, and helping a stranger. Just over three in five people in the UK said they had helped a stranger in the previous month, down four percentage points on the year before, while 74 per cent said they had given money to charity – also slightly down.
The UK and Ireland came joint-seventh overall, when all three behaviours were measured.
Just five of the countries in the top 20 were members of the G20, the group representing the world's largest economies.
The United States was the only nation to appear in the top ten for all three measures, and it topped the rankings for being most likely to help a stranger (79 per cent said they had done so in the previous month).
Iraq and Trinidad and Tobago were the countries joint second-most likely to help a stranger, with 75 per cent of respondents in those places saying they had done so. This was a massive change for Iraq, as in 2012 only 42 per cent of people said they had helped someone they didn’t know. CAF said: “This is likely to be a reaction to the increasing violence in Iraq and an increased need to help those who have been affected.”
Malaysia recorded the biggest increase in generosity, a change CAF attributed to the humanitarian effort made towards its Philippine neighbours whose lives were devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. Malaysia jumped from 71st to seventh in the Index as participation in all three behaviours increased substantially.
Overall, combining the three indicators of generosity, the US and Myanmar were the two most generous nations, followed by Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Yemen was bottom with Venezuela just above.
In developed countries women are more likely to give to charity; in low-income nations men are more likely to donate.
Around the world, fewer people aged 15 to 29 are donating, possibly due to high youth unemployment which continues to afflict the global economy.
The data is gathered through the completion in most of the 135 countries of 1,000 questionnaires by a representative sample of their populations. In total 130,000 people were interviewed by Gallup in 2013.
