The United Kingdom is the eighth most charitable nation in the world while the world's fastest growing major economies - China and India - rank among the least altruistic, the largest study ever carried out into social conscience reveals today.

The World Giving Index - published by the Charities Aid foundation - used Gallup surveys of 195,000 people in 153 nations, and asked people whether they had given money to charity or volunteered or helped a stranger in the last month. It also asked respondents to rank how happy they are with life.

The results gave an indication of a "global Big society" with a fifth of the world's population had volunteered, almost a third of the world's population had given money to charity, and 45% of the world's population had been "good samaritans" and helped a stranger.

The UK came eighth on the index and finished joint third, alongside Thailand, in terms of giving money, with 73% of the population having donated to charity. However its former colonial possessions - Australia, New Zealand and the United States - were far more charitable. In Europe only Ireland, Switzerland and Holland fared better.

Rich countries dominated the top positions yet around half of the top twenty most charitable were developing nations such as as Guinea, Guyana and Turkmenistan. Strikingly India ranked at 134 and China at 147 - with Chinese people among the least likely on the planet to volunteer. Only 4% said they would.

• This article was amended on 21 March 2011. The original said that in Europe only Switzerland and Holland fared better. This has been corrected.

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