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Year two of the World Giving Report's Donor Insights reveals even more about what, how and why people give around the world.
Year two of the World Giving Report's Donor Insights reveals even more about what, how and why people give around the world.
Six in ten people globally gave money to good causes in 2025, whether directly to people in need, to charity, or for religious reasons. People in Asia and Africa were the most likely to give money, while those in South America were the least likely.
On average, people donated 1% of their incomes in 2025. However, this varied between continents, with Africans donating the highest percentage of their incomes (1.6%) and Europeans donating the lowest (0.6%).
People were most likely to donate by giving money directly to people in need (36% of people globally) or to charities (34%). Around a quarter of people (23%) gave to a religious organisation or for religious reasons. Religious and direct giving were most prevalent in Africa, while giving to charity was most common in Oceania.
Use the check boxes to compare the different ways people give across the world.
In this section, we turn to the value of donations, and how that is split across the three types of giving this research covers — charitable giving, direct giving, and religious giving. On average across the world, people give 41% of the value of their donations directly to people in need, 38% to charities, and 21% to religious organisations, with donations through each route tending to be at similar levels (in other words, people who give through one route are no more generous than those who give through another).
People in the Netherlands give the largest share of their donations to charities (79%), while people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo give the lowest (2%).
While they don't give much to charities, people in DR Congo do give the highest amounts via religious routes, with just less than half (46%) of the value of their donations taking place in this way. However, in Uruguay just 4% of the value of donations is made via religious routes.
In Morocco, people prioritise direct giving more than anywhere else in the world, with 77% of the value of their donations made in this way, compared with just 10% in the Netherlands.
Highest share of donations that go via religious routes and lowest share going to charities
Highest share of donations that go to charity and lowest share that go directly to people in need
Lowest share of donations that go via religious routes
Highest share of donations that go directly to people in need
Our data shows that generosity is positively influenced by a range of factors, operating at different levels.
We have divided these into three groups, although they can impact on each other:
We would encourage governments, charities and other changemakers to understand these factors and consider how each can be leveraged to promote greater generosity.
Scroll down to read about three of the factors in more detail and download the full report for insight on all of them.
People who feel a strong sense of belonging to their local community are much more likely to give, and they give much more on average.
Countries where less than half the population feels a very or fairly strong sense of belonging to their local community are less generous. They give just 0.6% of their income, on average (see the left, light red section of the graph below). No African countries appear in this group of 19, while 11 European countries do. Ukraine is the slight outlier in this group as it gives 1.2% of income.
Countries where more than 80% of the population feels a very or fairly strong sense of belonging to their local community are more generous. They give 1.7% of their income, on average. Only African and Asian countries feature in this cohort of 24 (see the right, yellow section of the graph below).
Six in ten (62%) people globally say that charities have had a fairly or very positive impact in their local community, rising to a high of 75% in Africa. In Europe, almost half (48%) of people say that charities make no difference locally, or that it is impossible to tell what the impact is.
Importantly, a recognition of charities having a positive local impact goes hand-in-hand with a number of other pro-social behaviours, as the visual below shows:
“Where we have seen charities tell impact stories that donors have really connected with, it has been easier to build the kind of trust and engagement that sets them up for longer-term success.”
Four in ten (40%) of people globally said that their government encourages giving to charity, with people in Asia (55%) and Africa (51%) being the most likely to agree.
In Africa, the top way people say governments encourage giving is by saying positive things about charities (55%). This was also the top reason in Europe (40%), North America (43%) and South America (48%).
In Asia, good charity regulation is the top answer as to how government encourages giving (47%), while in Oceania, tax incentives was the most common answer given (48%).
