Germans donated around €5.7bn in 2022 despite economic challenges

2022 saw people in Germany donate €5.7 billion – just 1.6% less than the previous year, despite high inflation and energy prices.

The GfK survey Balance Sheet of Helping: Trends and Forecasts is carried out annually on behalf of the German Donations Council. The most recent report also reveals that around 18.7 million people donated money to charities or churches in 2022, with an average donation of €43. This is the highest since the survey began in 2005, with the previous maximum €42 per donation in 2021.

Martin Wulff, Managing Director of the German Donations Council commented:

“We are pleased about the very high willingness to donate in Germany in 2022. Over €5.7 billion were donated. In particular, donors have provided help for people who have fled from Ukraine.”

Donations in support of Ukraine

Donations in support of Ukraine played a big part in this. Overall, 76% of donations went to humanitarian aid, slightly up on the previous year, with the majority directed towards emergency and disaster relief. In fact, after 2021 saw twice the amount of donations directed here as in 2020, last year saw a further increase of €117 million.

The majority of donations also came in the months of February-April 2022 – at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

The report says that it is therefore reasonable to assume that the increase in the total volume of donations to emergency and disaster relief is primarily a result of donations for refugees from Ukraine. This assumption is also underpinned by the fact that the number of donors in this area rose from 2.3 million in 2021 to 7.2 million people and their average donation increased from €45 in 2021 to €69 in 2022.

All other areas of humanitarian aid (such as development aid, education or child and youth welfare) on the other hand, saw donations fall – both in terms of volume of donations, and amount donated.

Other than humanitarian aid, the only other cause to see an increase was animal protection, which received €8 million more than in the previous year. The culture/monument preservation sector recorded considerable losses with its share of total donation volume falling from 3% to 2%. In 2021, €153 million was donated to this causal area, falling to €102 million in 2022.

Donations by age group

The 70+ generation continues to donate the most. As in the previous year, this age group accounted for 4% of the total volume. As previously, the amount donated annually in this age group grew again, to €421 per person from €416 in 2021 – by far the highest level of all age groups. However, the number of donors in this age group fell by a further 235,000, following a drop of 244,000 in 2021.

The 40-49 year old age group is described as ‘the problem child’ of all age groups in the report. While this age group contributed 16% of the total volume of donations in 2019, this had dropped to 9% last year. Their total annual donation also fell, from €320 per person in 2019 to €234 per person in 2022. All other age groups have increased their annual donations significantly compared to 2019’s figure.

While acknowledging that predictions are difficult, the report suggests that 2023 could be another good year for donations. It highlights that in November 2022 43% of people were still planning to donate as much money in the next 12 months as before, 12% more or even significantly more. 32% of people said they planned to donate slightly less or significantly less.

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