The amount people donate to charity in the UK fell by 11% in a year due to the economic downturn, a survey showed Wednesday.
The average person here gave 10 pounds a month to charity during the year to April, one pound a month less than they had donated during the previous 12 months, according to the Charities Aid Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
The groups said the reduction was equivalent to a 1.3 billion pounds drop in the amount of money the UK's 170,000 charities received in real terms.
But despite people giving less, the overall proportion of consumers donating money to charities on a monthly basis fell by only 2% to 54%.
Medical charities remain the most popular good cause, with one in five people who made a donation giving money to these organisations, followed by 15% who donated money to hospitals and hospices and 14% who gave money to charities for children and young people.
Just under half of donations were given in cash, with 31% made using direct debits.
But the groups estimate that around 750 million pounds is wasted each year through people failing to make a gift aid declaration, which enables charities to reclaim basic rate tax paid by the donor on the money.
John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said: "Even though there are welcome signs the recession is technically ending, the economic downturn is still severely impacting charities, many of whom have had to cut jobs while facing increased demand for their services".

Kuna