UK ranks among top three for donating money but lags in overall generosity, World Giving Index reveals
Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index, which has been running since 2009, this year includes data from 142 countries
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK is one of the most generous countries when it comes to donating money to charity, according to a long-running global survey.
But while it ranked third by that measure, it came 58th for volunteering and 112th for helping a stranger, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) said.
Its overall placing on the list when all three aspects of charity were taken into account dropped to 17th, according to the CAF.
The organisation’s World Giving Index has been running since 2009 and this year includes data from 142 countries.
People were asked three questions: if they had helped a stranger, given money or volunteered for a good cause in the past month.
When the results of the three questions were combined, Indonesia topped the list of most generous populations for the sixth year in a row, while Ukraine came second, up from 10th place last year.
The UK had been in the 10 most generous countries every year until 2016 when it ranked at number 11 overall, but it has not appeared in the highest-scoring countries since 2019, the CAF said.
CAF chief executive Neil Heslop 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
“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.”