Western Australians lead the nation in charitable giving according to recent Roy Morgan Research which has revealed 71 per cent of the state’s population gave to charity in the past year, compared with the national average of 66 per cent.
As well as representing the country’s greatest proportion of charitable givers, Western Australians also gave the highest amounts to charities.
Western Australians who donate to charity gave on average about $355 last year.
This is ahead of donors elsewhere in Australia, among more than 15,000 people involved in the research between October 2014 and September 2015.
New South Wales residents and people in the Australian Capital Territory gave, on average, $331.
Average figures from the other states showed Victorians gave $285, Tasmanians $268, Queenslanders $264, and South Australians $260.
People in the Northern Territory were not surveyed.
Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said Western Australians were more likely to believe helping others was their duty as a global citizen and that everyday people could help raise living standards.
Mr Morris, said while Victorians also held these attitudes, Roy Morgan Research believed because Western Australians were almost twice as likely to live in households with incomes of more than $200,000 than Victorians, this might explain why more people gave to charity, and in higher amounts.
