The UK has slipped from fifth to eighth place in the World Giving Index report, which was released today by CAF today, as it warns of a "double dip" in giving wordwide.
Australia moved up from third place last year to claim the top spot, with the United States of America dropping from first to fifth. Ireland held on to second place and Indonesia was ahead of the UK in seventh place.
On all three areas of charitable activity measured by the report Britons were down on the previous year.
In 2011 72 per cent of Britons had donated money in the previous month, down from 79 per cent in 2010. Some 26 per cent had volunteered time (28 per cent in 2010) and 56 per cent had helped a stranger in the previous month, down from 63 per cent.
Britain was ranked fourth most generous in terms of the proportion of people donating money.
John Low, chief executive of CAF, said: “Britain remains one of the most generous countries in the world and it is fantastic that so many people still give their time and money to support the causes they care about.
“But with fewer people in Britain donating money, volunteering time and helping a stranger, it is little surprise that many charities are facing a tough time.”
He called on politicians, businesspeople and individuals to “take action now to support charities and enable them to carry on providing vital services”.
CAF recently warned that one in six UK charities could face closure in 2013. And after the publication of the annual UK Giving report, which found there had been a £2.3bn fall in individual giving, CAF and NCVO launched a new campaign – Back Britain’s Charities – calling on society to do more to support charities. So far 1,361 people have pledged their support.
Global trends
CAF has described the global trend as a “double-dip” in worldwide giving, with participation in each of the measures lower than last year and in 2007, when the report started. The lowest recorded level of giving was in 2009, following the 2008 financial crisis, but giving rebounded in 2010.
Donations, volunteering and helping strangers all fell by around 2 per cent from 2010 to 2011. In 2011 the average proportion of people donating to charity was 28 per cent, volunteering was 18.4 per cent and helping strangers was 45 per cent.
More women were likely to donate money but men were more likely to volunteer or help a stranger. And young people are 10 per cent less likely to donate than the over-50s.
The annual survey has assessed charitable behaviour worldwide since 2007. It is compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) using statistics produced by international polling company Gallup, which spoke to more than 155,000 people in 146 countries during 2011.
