KARACHI, Pakistan — Given its dependence on foreign aid and its high level of foreign and domestic debt, Pakistan has always been seen abroad as a country with a begging bowl around its neck. In 2008, for example, $3.6 billion in foreign economic assistance flowed in, but about half of it was needed to service debt.

Meanwhile, according to Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, chairman of the Pakistan Center for Philanthropy, charitable donations by citizens equal what the government spends on social welfare, which last year was estimated at a bit short of $2 billion, or about 1 percent of gross domestic product. One reason: Only 2 percent of the population actually pay taxes in a land where per capita income averages $2,900, and where the United Nations says nearly half the people live at or below the poverty line.

Is this how a modern country functions?

In Pakistan, poverty is not sanitized; it’s on full display. What helps save the society is a culture of giving, interwoven into the fabric of how people live and worship. The World Giving Index for 2013, compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation from Gallup polling data, reported that 38 percent of all Pakistanis donated money to charity in 2012, and that 51 percent found some way to help a stranger. For those Pakistanis with money to donate, it’s nearly impossible to decide which cause is most deserving; after all, the great mass of the population could be labeled “less fortunate.” It’s also hard to know whom to trust.

The focal point of philanthropy each year is the holy month of Ramadan, when Islam’s obligation to give to the poor intensifies. Those who miss the daily fast, for example, must feed a poor person. All month, organizations like hospitals, schools, associations for the disabled, education foundations and Islamic charities vie for contributions on billboards, fliers and newspaper ads. And on an announced day, the government collects 2.5 percent from most savings accounts to distribute to approved private charities. This is meant to enforce the Islamic obligation of charity, known as Zakat; in the 2008-9 fiscal year, it yielded about $167 million.