Number of people giving donations in South Korea drops
The number of people giving donations to charity dropped sharply over the last six years, government data showed.
According to Statistics Korea, 26.7 percent of people polled in 2017 said they gave donations in the past year, down from 36.4 percent tallied in 2011, Yonhap reported.
Among people who did not give money to various causes, those households making between 4-5 million won (US$3,700-4,630) per month witnessed the sharpest drop, Statistics Korea said.
“In 2011, 50.7 percent of households in this income bracket reported giving donations, but this plunged 18.3 percentage points to 32.4 percent last year,” the statistics office said.
Those making between 5-6 million on average a month reported numbers falling by 16.9 percentage points, with 38.6 percent of these relatively well off households contributing money to charity and other good causes last year.
Compared to households with generally higher income levels, people making less than one million won and those earning 1-2 million won per month cut donations by nine percentage points and eight percentage points, respectively, over the same time period.
Of those making less than one million, 9.2 percent said they still donated money over the past year in 2017, with the corresponding figure for those making 1-2 million won standing at 17.9 percent.
The latest findings show many people pointing out difficult economic conditions as causing them to hold back on donations, with others claiming a lack of interest in giving support to the needy and poor levels of trust for charity groups managing such donations.