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The Gallup Civic Engagement Index (CEI) measures how “charitable” people are in 146 countries. The index reflects the extent to which people in a country
a) donate money to charity
b) volunteer their time to organisations and
c) have helped a stranger in need.
The index reveals that Indonesia had the highest CEI of all countries. In that country 78% of residents say they have contributed to charity. More than half (53%) say they have volunteered time to an organisation. These high levels of civic engagement result in Indonesia CEI of 59 out of a possible 100. Indonesia’s CEI is followed by those of Australia (59), New Zealand and the USA (58).
Relatively wealthy countries are prominent among those with high CEIs. By contrast the countries with low CEI’s tend to be those marked by conflict or have traditionally had authoritarian governments.
Examples of the former include Yemen (15) and the Palestinian territories (17). Countries with traditions of authoritarian governments include Russia (25) and China (17). This said Greece, which is not marked by conflict and is an established democracy, has the second lowest CEI (17) after Yemen (15).
South Africa has a CEI of 41 – the 40th highest of the 146 countries. This indicates that South Africa is among the most charitable (or engaged) 30 percent of countries.
South Africa has the highest CEI of the BRICS members. Brazil has a CEI of 23 and India has a CEI of 22.
Several African countries have higher CE Indices than South Africa. The African country with the highest CEI is Kenya (54). Kenya has the eighth highest CEI the world.
Kenya is followed, in order, by Nigeria (CEI of 48), Liberia (47) Zambia (46), Mauritius (46), Libya (45), Gambia (44) and Ghana (42).
The sub-Saharan country with the lowest CEI is Togo (24). Twenty seven countries including Brazil, India China and Japan have CEI values lower than Togo.
The CEI values of the 146 countries are shown in the map below.
