Cosmopolitanism is the view that gives the interests of people of other nationalities a weight equal to those of one’s compatriots.

Because people in poorer countries are more likely than people in richer countries to face severe problems solvable at little cost, it is often a good general heuristic for effective altruists in rich countries to focus their attention on impoverished parts of the world, rather than looking for giving opportunities in their local area.

Further reading

Kleingeld, Pauline & Eric Brown (2002) Cosmopolitanism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, February 23 (updated 17 October 2019).

MacAskill, William & Darius Meissner (2020) Cosmopolitanism: Expanding the moral circle across geography, in ‘Utilitarianism and practical ethics’, Utilitarianism.