Malta ranks first among 153 countries when it comes to giving money to charity, with 83 per cent of the population saying they had donated cash the previous month, according to a worldwide study.

(Malta) did best when it came to donating money

This is no surprise to most, especially after the Maltese donated €2.6 million in 12 hours during the L-Istrina fundraising marathon on Monday.

The World Giving Index report 2010 looked into the giving patterns of 153 countries that together represented about 95 per cent of the world population.

Population samples were asked whether they donated time or money to an organisation or helped a stranger in the month prior the interviews that took place last year.

Malta placed 13th when it came to overall “giving” that included three main factors: giving money, donating time and helping a stranger.

It did best when it came to donating money and was followed by the Netherlands, the UK, Morocco and Ireland.

When it came to donating time, 21 per cent of the population said they carried out voluntary work and 40 per cent noted they helped a stranger.

Australia, New Zealand and Canada scored top three on the overall index while the Ukraine, Burundi and Madagascar ranked last.

Time donation was topped by Turkmenistan, where 61 per cent of the population volunteered. About 76 per cent of Liberians helped a stranger, topping the score in that category.

Overall, 20 per cent of the world’s population had volunteered time in the month prior to the interview, 30 per cent had given money to charity and 45 per cent had helped a stranger.