An increasing proportion of the British public are donating to charity, according to research by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
CAF’s latest World Giving Index includes data from 142 countries where people were asked three questions: have they helped a stranger, given money or volunteered for a good cause over the past month.
Some 71% of Britons surveyed said they had donated in the past month, compared to 65% a year earlier, with only a greater proportion of people giving in Indonesia and Myanmar.
While the UK’s population is one of the most likely to donate money, the country was 58th in the world for volunteering and 112th for helping a stranger.
Some 51% of Brits said they had helped a stranger in the past month compared to 52% the previous year and 83% of Jamaicans, the highest-ranked country in that category.
Meanwhile, 26% of UK adults said they had volunteered in the previous month, compared to 24% the year before.
Across all three measures, the UK ranked as the 17th most generous country, the same as the previous year.
UK remains 17th most generous country
Indonesia topped the list of most generous populations for the sixth year in a row, while Ukraine came second, climbing from 10th last year.
The UK made an appearance in the top 10 most generous countries every year until 2016, but has not featured among the highest-scoring countries since 2019.
Neil Heslop, chief executive of CAF said: “This year’s CAF World Giving Index shows a rather mixed picture for the UK. We are still one of the most generous countries in the world for giving money – even when times are so tough – but overall we have slipped down the Index over the last decade.
“Giving is about building a connection with those around us, whether they are across the street or on the other side of the world. We need to constantly renew and nurture a culture of giving to bring us all together and get more time and money flowing to support hard-pressed communities around the country.
“It’s up to all of us, but the government can take the lead by drawing up a national strategy for philanthropy and charitable giving.”
The CAF World Giving Index is based on data from Gallup’s World View World Poll, which is an ongoing research project carried out in more than 100 countries.
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