Pakistan Ranked Among Top Donors to UN's World Food Program

The United Nations World Food Program has ranked Pakistan fourth among donor countries and sixth overall in 2024.  Among the largest 15 donors worldwide, the United States topped the list with $4.45 billion, followed by Germany ($995 million), the United Kingdom ($610 million), European Union ($593 million), private donors ($335 million), Pakistan ($228 million), South Korea ($203 million), France ($196 million), Sweden ($183 million), Canada ($166 million), Norway ($158 million), Japan ($155 million), UN Central Emergency Fund ($135 million), other UN agencies ($120 million) and Switzerland ($88 million), according to the World Food Program. 

Top Donors to World Food Program in 2024. Source: WFP

The World Food Program says that 319 million people in 67 countries are facing acute hunger, and the scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is massive. "A total of 1.9 million people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger – primarily in Gaza and Sudan but also in pockets of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali. They are teetering on the brink of famine. In Zamzam camp in northern Sudan, famine has been confirmed. Many food crises involve multiple overlapping issues that are building year on year". 

Pakistan, being a generous nation and ranked among the top 10 food producing countries, feels a special responsibility to step up and feed as many hungry people as possible. Pakistan is a major global food producer, particularly in several key areas. It ranks among the top ten countries in the world for the production of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, mangoes, dates, and kinnow oranges. It also produces large quantities of cereals, meat, milk, fruits, and vegetables. Specifically, Pakistan is the 8th largest producer of wheat and 10th largest producer of rice globally. 

World Giving Index has ranked Pakistan among the most generous generations in the past. A Michigan State University (MSU) study of 63 countries found that Pakistanis have higher empathy for others than people in their neighboring countries.  Philanthropy is part of the faith for most Pakistanis:

"Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces towards the east or the west, but righteousness is, one who believes in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Book, and the prophets, and who gives wealth for His love to kindred, and orphans, and the poor, and the son of the road, beggars, and those in captivity; and who is steadfast in prayers, and gives alms." Quran 2:177

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Study Says Pakistanis Have More Empathy Than Neighbors

A Michigan State University (MSU) study of 63 countries finds that Pakistanis have higher empathy for others than people in their neighboring countries. It also finds that the United States is among the most empathetic nations in the world.

Empathy Study:

The MSU researchers, led by William J. Chopik,  analyzed the data from an online survey on empathy completed by more than 104,000 people from around the world.

The survey measured people’s compassion for others and their tendency to imagine others’ point of view. Countries with small sample sizes were excluded (including most nations in Africa). All told, 63 countries were ranked in the study, according to MSUToday, a publication of Michigan State University.

Measure of Generosity:

One of the key measures of empathy is generosity to others, the kind of generosity seen in Pakistan by the likes of  late Abul Sattar Edhi. The Edhi Foundation set up the great man is funded mainly by small donations from ordinary people in Pakistan.

 Anatol Lieven, author of "Pakistan: A Hard Country" wrote the following tribute to the Mr. Edhi:

"There is no sight in Pakistan more moving than to visit some dusty, impoverished small town in an arid wasteland, apparently abandoned by God and all sensible men and certainly abandoned by the Pakistani state and its elected representatives - and to see the flag of Edhi Foundation flying over a concrete shack with a telephone, and the only ambulance in town standing in front. Here, if anywhere in Pakistan, lies the truth of human religion and human morality."  

What Professor Anatol Lieven describes as "human religion and human morality" is the very essence of the Huqooq-ul-Ibad (Human Rights) in Islam. Abdus Sattar Edhi understood it well when he said, "there's no religion higher than humanity".

Edhi understood the meaning of what the Quran, the Muslim holy book, says in chapter 2 verse 177:

"Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces towards the east or the west, but righteous is, one who believes in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Book, and the prophets, and who gives wealth for His love to kindred, and orphans, and the poor, and the son of the road, beggars, and those in captivity; and who is steadfast in prayers, and gives alms."

Most & Least Empathetic Nations: 

Researchers conclude that Ecuador is the most empathetic country, followed by Saudi Arabia, Peru, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Costa Rica and Kuwait.

The least empathetic country is Lithuania. In fact, seven of the 10 least empathetic countries are in Eastern Europe. The study, published online in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, is co-authored by Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago and Sara Konrath of Indiana University.

Summary:

Average Pakistanis continue to be empathetic and generous in spite of the violence and the terror they have endured for over a decade. It can only be attributed to the strength of their faith and their adherence to what Prof. Lieven describes as "the truth of human religion and human morality".

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