The Shukran Global Generosity Index

What it is and why we built it

Big numbers make great headlines, but they don't tell you who is truly generous. That's why we're adding the Global Generosity Index to our tip reports. For the last one year or so, we‘ve been sharing the raw highlights: the biggest single tip, the largest group tip, top property earnings, etc. We'll still keep sharing them. They celebrate real moments, like a guide who received a life-changing tip or a camp team rewarded together.

But raw tip numbers answer "how much?" They don't answer "how generous?" Those are different questions, and the difference matters.

What raw numbers miss

If you rank countries by total tips, you mostly learn which countries send the most travellers. Four things get in the way of a fair picture:

• More guests means more money. A country that sends ten times more visitors will almost always tip more in total, even if each guest gives less.
• Strong currencies look bigger. $50 is a very different gesture for someone earning in Swiss francs than for someone earning in Kenyan shillings.
• Luxury camps have bigger tips. A $200 tip at a high-end lodge is normal. The same $200 at a café would be extraordinary. Raw numbers can't tell the two apart.
• One big tipper can top the chart. If only three guests from a country tipped this month, one generous family can make that country look like the world's most generous.

None of this makes raw numbers wrong. It just means they measure scale, not generosity.

What the Shukran Global Generosity Index is

The Shukran Global Generosity Index ranks countries by how generously their typical guest tips, compared fairly across different properties and home-country costs of living.

We analyzed historical data from our partner properties to tackle each of the four problems above:

We also count people, not the number of times they tip. A guest who splits one “Shukran” across five team members is one generous guest, not five.

An example: four guests at one lodge

On raw numbers the American and Swiss guests tie for most generous. Once the index adjusts for cost of living, the guest from India comes out on top. Imagine four guests at the same lodge/property, where the usual tip is $20… 

(These figures are illustrative, not real.)

The Indian guest gave exactly the usual amount, but $20 is a much bigger gesture where everyday prices in their home country are about a quarter of US prices. The Swiss guest gave the same $30 as the American, but life at home costs more, so the same dollars stretch less. The Kenyan guest gave less in dollars, but scores close to the Swiss guest once home prices are counted.

We only make a partial allowance for the cost of living. People who travel on safari usually earn well above their country's average, so a full adjustment would overstate their effort.

The math behind the example

It takes four steps to turn a tip into an index score. Here they are for the same four guests.

Step 1: Compare each tip with the usual tip at that hotel. Divide the tip by the hotel’s usual tip of $20.

Step 2: Work out the cost-of-living factor. Take each country's price level (e.g. US = 1.00), find its square root, then divide 1 by the result. The square root is what makes this a partial allowance rather than a full one. A full allowance assumes every traveler that tips lives like the average person in their home country, but most don’t. They  earn slightly above the average person.

Step 3: Multiply the two. That gives each guest's generosity score.

Step 4: Turn the scores into the index. Find the median generosity score of the group. Comparing everyone with the middle guest turns raw scores into an easy benchmark. With four guests, that's halfway between the two middle scores: (1.32 + 1.50) ÷ 2 = 1.41. Then divide each guest's score by 1.41 and multiply by 100.

In the real index, the typical guest is worked out across every tipper we have, not just four, and each country's score is the middle score of all its guests. Countries with only a few tippers are also pulled toward 100, so one generous guest can't top the chart on their own.

How to Read Shukran’s Generosity Index

A score of 100 is the typical guest per country. Above 100 means guests from that country tip more generously than most, and below 100 means less.

• 130 means guests from that country tip about 30% more generously than the typical guest.
• 100 means they tip about the same as the typical guest.
• 90 means they tip about 10% less generously.

We only publish a country once it has at least 10 tippers across at least 5 properties. Below that, a handful of guests could swing the result.

Generosity vs Impact: Two stories, side by side

The index doesn't replace the raw numbers. From now on, our reports tell two stories:

We'll also show where generosity landed: which regions, such as Laikipia, the Maasai Mara or Arusha, received the most in tips, and how big the typical tip was in each.

What's next

The first full index, covering the last 12 months to October 2026, is now out. After that we'll update it every month. (Join our mailing list to receive monthly updates)

Behind every score are guides, cooks, housekeepers and drivers whose work made someone's trip. The index is our way of making sure that generosity, wherever it comes from, is seen fairly. Every tip counts, and now every tipper does too.