President Ma Ying-jeou on Friday described the result of a poll ranking Taiwan 72nd among 153 countries for charitable behavior as 'unfair, ' saying it has transformed itself from an importer of love into an exporter of love. Ma wondered if the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) -- a British-based charitable financial-services organization -- missed something in compiling its World Giving Index 2010, referring to Taiwan's sponsorship of children living in poverty around the world. He pointed out that people in Taiwan sponsor a total of 230,000 poor children around the world through programs run by two Taipei-based charity groups -- World Vision Taiwan and the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families. 'We have a population of 23 million people, and the 230,000 persons accounted for 1 percent of the population. The percentage is high, ' Ma said. He said the U.S., whose population stands at 300 million people, would have to sponsor 3 million poor foreign children to reach the same level of charitable behavior as Taiwan's. The U.S., however, shared fifth place with Switzerland in the World Giving Index ranking published on Sept. 8, with Australia and New Zealand topping the list. The methodology may had something to do with Taiwan's ranking, which was based on data collected by Gallup's WorldView World Poll in March 2010. The poll asked people in each of the target countries whether they had donated money to an organization, volunteered time to an organization or helped a stranger in the past month. Giving money or time to an organization could include political parties or organizations as well as registered charities, community organizations, and places of worship, the foundation said. Each country's score was based on the average of their scores on 'giving money,' 'giving time,' and helping a stranger. Australia and New Zealand each had an average of 57 percent of their people engaging in the three charitable acts, while Taiwan had an average of 31 percent. Some 37 percent of people surveyed in Taiwan had given money in the previous month, 15 percent had given their time and 41 percent had helped a stranger, the poll found. Taiwan ranked third in East Asia, behind Hong Kong (18th) and Mongolia (67th), but ahead of South Korea (81st), Japan (119th) and China (147th). Hong Kong's ranking was helped by the fact that 70 percent of its people had donated money in the previous month, tied for eighth in the world with Australia. Its overall average was 44 percent, tied with Germany, Denmark and Guinea. Five countries in Southeast Asia -- Laos (11th), Myanmar (22nd), Thailand (25th), and Indonesia and the Philippines (tied for 50th) , also finished ahead of Taiwan. President Ma talked about the survey during a meeting with recipients of the 2010 Republic of China Medical Devotion Award at his office. He praised the award winners as individuals who represented the core values of Taiwan's people -- integrity, goodness, diligence, honesty and tolerance. Eight individuals and organizations were awarded, including the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders and 83-year-old medical entomologist Lien Jih- ching, who was described by the president as having 'spent more time researching mosquitoes than I have lived.' 