Americans retain their post as not-quite-nicest people on the planet

Such an inspiring blog post about Canadians the other day... and, unfortunately, a less inspiring post about Americans today.

According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, the number of people who plan to give nothing, zip, zilch to charity doubled this year (12% in 2010; 6% in 2009). The good news is, numbers on volunteering are slightly up - 11% in 2010, 9% in 2009. 13% of those surveyed report that they give neither time nor money.

24% of those surveyed said that they feel a responsibility to "make the world a better place by being actively involved in various issues." This number is down from 31% in 2007. In addition, the survey found that "just under half (46%) feel that people can get involved in different causes but shouldn't necessarily feel obligated to do so, which is up from the 40% who said this three years ago."

The sample size of 2,620 seems a bit small to me, but the results are still interesting. Now that times are tough, we are giving less, volunteering slightly more, and feel less of an obligation to make the world a better place.

Sigh.