News Release

Just who in the world is the most generous? Would it be Americans, who lead the world in cash donations to charities, measured as a percentage of gross domestic product? Or is it the good people of the Netherlands, who give more of their time and money combined and thus lead the world in overall philanthropic behavior?

The latest report on both giving and the time value of philanthropic behavior as a percentage of GDP will spur such questions. The report is compiled by the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies.

"There's a lot of mythology out there about charitable giving around the world," said Lester Salamon, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies. "What's increasingly clear is that Americans are not the only ones who give. And when gifts of time are added to gifts of money, some other countries turn out to be every bit as generous as Americans are."

The data were generated by a team of researchers around the world led by Salamon as part of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project.

To download a chart with data on private philanthropy in over 30 countries, go to www.jhu.edu/cnp/pdf/comptable5_dec05.pdf.