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US, Myanmar world's most generous countries

world Updated: Nov 20, 2014 01:35 IST

While a booming economy certainly helps, it's hardly required in order to become one of the most generous nations in the world, a new study has proven.

The US and Myanmar tied for first place for the country that gave the most last year, according to the 2014 World Giving Index, reported on Wednesday. And just five countries that made it to the top 20 are members of the G20 - the world's largest economies - according to the report, which was released by Charitable Aid Foundation America (CAF).

The report was based on Gallup data collected across 135 countries.

Respondents were asked about their contributions to the society in the past month and the answers were averaged to determine a final score.

The US was the only country that was ranked in the top 10 for all three giving criteria and the monetary donations in the country seemed to have increased by 6% since 2013.

Mynamar, where 91% of the country donated money, climbed its way to number one with its deeply-rooted charitable traditions. Charity or Dana plays an integral role in the Theravada Buddhist community, which has about 500,000 monks there.

Globally, more people are volunteering their time and helping strangers, but there was a slight drop in the proportion of people donating money. That decrease was likely tied to the fall in global GDP growth.

Many developing and lower income countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago were ranked among the most charitable countries.