Britain's Alternative Rich List, which recognises selfless achievements rather than wealth, has drawn more than five times more votes this year than 12 months ago when the economy was still growing.
More than 5,500 members of the public voted via the internet to choose this year's winners from about 100 candidates, which included a worker from international medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, a surgeon and a founder of programmes to help prisoners and their families.
The winners were announced on Tuesday.
Thelma Perkins, who campaigns against gun, knife and gang crimes and helps the victims; Tom Henderson, who developed ShelterBox containing equipment vital for survival after a natural disaster; and Susie Howe, who helps orphans in Zimbabwe, topped the list.
They won 1,338, 981 and 812 votes respectively.
"When (the list) came out last year, it was before the massive credit crunch and we still had a bit of a culture of consumerism," says Lucy George, a spokeswoman for the organisers of the poll.
"In a year since then, quite a lot happened."
Early this year Britain entered its first recession since 1991 and the number of the unemployed has surged to more than two million .
The Alternative Rich List, organised by recruitment agency People Unlimited, was run for the first time last year, with 90 people nominated.
