Moustache-clad fundraisers in the UK have raised £19.4m so far for Movember, beating the US, Australia, all other European countries, and coming second only to Canada.
The worldwide annual fundraising month of 'Movember' has so far this year raised over £77m towards male health, in particular prostate and testicular cancer treatments, research and support.
The global summary reveals that the UK, with the highest number of registered fundraisers (363,288) has so far raised £19,386,208. While the top country, Canada, with fewer fundraisers (247,288) has raised £24,506,881.
Australia, which founded the movement in 2003, has raised the third greatest sum at £15.8m, followed by the United States at £12.1m then Ireland at £1.2m.
Individual effort
The top UK fundraiser with a current total of £45,435 raised is Spencer Reynolds who is currently undergoing chemotherapy. He received 168 donations. His team, Interplantetary Facial Hair has 51 members and has raised £84,459 coming second in the UK team leaderboard chart. Should've Gone to Specshavers, a team set up by high street opticians Specsavers comes top of the team league, having raised £103,796.
Online donations for Movember were accepted until 10pm on 9 December. The current figures fall £1.6m shy of the 2011 fundraising total of £79.3m but cheques and further collections are expected to boost the totals. The event's fundraising total has grown substantially every year since its first fundraising year in 2004 when it raised just £21,600. The 2010 total was £48.5m, meaning a growth of 61 per cent in 2011.
