Debuting a documentary about Malawi, the home of her recently-adopted son, David, at the Tribeca Film Festival a couple of months ago, which she narrated and her former gardener directed, Madonna took issue with America’s aid efforts, saying, “I don’t know what our government does period, instead of getting us in more debt and blowing up countries.” When asked later if the US government should do more, she replied, “It’s our own job to change that and I think it’s a fool’s errand to rely on the government to change things.”

Whatever you think of Madonna’s sense of humor or her knowledge of the US’s activities, she might be somewhat on the mark when it comes to American aid. The fact is that the US government is a miser when it comes to charity, but individual American citizens more than make up for it with their own largesse.

Two interesting, and highly contrastive figures:

• Among the 22 OECD development assistance committee countries, the United States is second-to-last in terms of generosity (only Greece was more miserly). This measures governmental aid. The Scandinavian countries, led by Norway, were the most generous. The US government gave 0.16% of GDP.
• The United States is the most generous of all countries, as a percentage of GDP, when counting total aid (see infographic to the right, courtesy of Fast Company). The US gives 1.7% of its GDP (Britain, Madonna’s new home, gives 0.73%, less than half that)

The difference? Private giving. Americans rely less on the government to do the job, and rather donate to non-governmental agencies, private and public, to do the job. A third go to religious organizations, and three-quarters from individuals (only a paltry 4.3% from corporations), but it’s clear that the American people, as Madonna calls it, will be the ones that people in need will have to rely on when they seek help.

What is missing from these statistics is how much of giving is destined for overseas. This, brings up some interesting questions (all of which would make for terrific dyalogue topics):

• Should individuals help less-fortunate people overseas, or “take care of their own” first?
• Is aid to former colonies (typical among European former colonial powers) as altruistic as aid to countries without a historical connection to your own?
• Is there a reasonable charitable giving target, or is any number arbitrary?
• Do celebrities owe a responsibility to the poor?
• What is the ideal government:private aid ratio?