What world poverty? My responsibility is just to other Australians, one in five say

Almost half of Australians 14+ (48%) believe they have a responsibility to do what they can to help the world’s poorest people, the latest research into charitable attitudes conducted by Roy Morgan shows.

Choosing between three attitudes, another 31% believe it is not their responsibility but they should make regular contributions anyway, and 21% believe their responsibility is just to other Australians.  

Although the belief in personal responsibility is fairly consistent across age groups (with between 46% of those under 25 or over 65 and 50% of 35-40 year-olds agreeing), younger people are overwhelmingly more likely to say that they should nevertheless make regular contributions even when it’s not necessarily their personal responsibility, while older Australians tend to hold the opinion that their responsibility is just to other Australians.

Just 13% of Under-25s say their responsibility is just to other Australians, but this perspective becomes increasingly and consistently more widespread with age, rising up to 31% of seniors.

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, October 2013 – September 2014, sample =15,110 Australians 14+. Respondents who couldn’t say have been excluded.

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Our research shows a clear trend: as we get older, we become more likely to believe our responsibility is just to other Australians and not to poor people in other parts of the world.

“However even though this particular attitude increases in prevalence with advancing age, most Australians across all age groups believe they should do what they can, whether it’s their personal responsibility or not.

“Roy Morgan Research collects extensive data on Australians’ attitudes to global and domestic issues, and can correlate these against a wide range of demographics, activities and interests, media habits and product purchasing behaviour and intentions.”