Qatar has been ranked among the world’s most charitable countries – not because it’s rich, but because it appears to have a great deal of good old-fashioned Arab hospitality.

According to the 2011 World Giving Index, which was recently released by the Charities Aid Foundation, Qatar ranked 19th out of some 153 nations.

It was far above other Arab countries in the index, including the UAE, which was 47th, and Saudi Arabia, at 57th – though the Kingdom did jump 26 spots from last year.

The United States ranked first, followed by Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Qatar fell three spots from 2010, but only because other countries outperformed it on the index’s three main criteria, as assessed by Gallup surveys: giving money, volunteering time and helping a stranger in need.

Interestingly, it was not Qatar’s deep pockets that earned it a high score, but the country’s impressive response rate when it came to helping strangers, which 69 percent of people in Qatar reported doing in the month prior to being interviewed by Gallup.

Some 53 percent reported giving money, and 12 percent donated time.

Check out the full report here.

That people in Qatar are happy to help strangers makes sense to me – I still remember how in my first few months here, a Qatari driving a Landcruiser honked and flashed his lights until I pulled over my car (my parents were there too), and then insisted on changing a punctured tire I didn’t know I had.

Have any of you been helped or have helped a stranger here?