A recent study has revealed the most generous billionaires according to the percentage of their fortunes that they’ve donated.

Warren Buffet came out of top by donating more than half (55%) of his net wealth ($46bn) followed by Bill Gates who has donated 46% of his fortunes ($41bn).

Out of the top 10 most philanthropic billionaires, nearly $110bn has been given away to charities. The list, which includes Buffet and Gates, as well as Michael Dell, has a joint wealth of $491.2bn.

The most generous female billionaire was Denise Coates, who has publicly donated 2.4% of her earnings to charitable causes ($120m). In fact, the top three wealthiest women have donated more than $842m (Denise Coates, Gine Rinehart and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers).

The richest businessman on the planet Jeff Bezos has donated $2.1bn to charities, although this equates to just 1.91% of his total wealth ($112bn). And according to figures, this percentage is less than the 2.23% the average person gives away over his or her lifetime in the UK (£30,040).

The analysis was conducted by price comparison website comparethemarket.com which also found that the amount donated to charity shoots up when an individual is signed up to The Giving Pledge – a campaign to encourage wealthy people to give away the majority of their wealth.

The average recorded donation for billionaires not signed up to the pledge is 1.8% of their wealth – a lower percentage than most people on average salaries. This goes up to an average of 4.3% when Giving Pledge billionaires are included.