The report found that 70 per cent of Australians had given money to a charity, and 38 per cent had donated their time, at some point during the month before they were surveyed. Almost two-thirds of participants had given assistance to a stranger.

The report ranked 153 countries accounting for 95 per cent of the world’s population.

The overall rankings were a composite of three categories; the percentage of people who donated money, donated time and helped a stranger in the month before being surveyed.

The report was based primarily on data from Gallup’s WorldView World Poll, an ongoing research project involving telephone and face-to-face interviews.