Older people more willing to donate but prioritise home-grown charities, study finds

Comparison holds even when controlling for factors like wealth, say experts

Experts found younger people donated more equitably at home and and abroad (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Older people are more likely than their younger compatriots to donate to charity, but direct their aid to groups within their own countries, a study suggests.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, Oxford University and the University of Vienna quizzed thousands of people on how they would donate a hypothetical amount of money.

First told the average daily income in their country, participants were then asked how much they would keep and how much they would give away to charities helping coronavirus victims either at home or abroad.

Older people tended to give away more money, even controlling for factors such as wealth, experts found. The study took place in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic last spring, with some 46,500 people aged 18 to 99 taking part, in 67 countries.

However, when the researchers looked at donation amounts to the national and the international charities separately, they found that younger people gave more equitably whereas older people gave less internationally.

Participants were further asked about how assiduously they had stuck to social distancing guidelines, plus other questions about their personality, with older respondents more likely to have obeyed the rules.

More elderly participants were also more likely to agree strongly with questionnaire statements like, “My country deserves special treatment”.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Aging.

Lead researcher Dr Jo Cutler, of the University of Birmingham, said: “We found that older people were much more likely to donate to a cause in their own country but less to an international charity and strikingly, this was true across most of the countries in our study.”

Senior author Dr Patricia Lockwood, also of the University of Birmingham, said: “As countries, including the UK, are announcing cuts to foreign aid budgets, there will be an increasing reliance on global charities.

“Understanding the giving preferences and inclinations of different age groups could therefore be extremely important in planning campaigns and appeals.”

Dr Lockwood added: “Increased pro-social behaviour – generosity and distancing – is shown around the world for older adults compared to younger adults. However, whom people are willing to help seems to change as people age.

“As the challenges of the 21st century become increasingly global in nature, and rely on people helping others, it is vital we understand how different age groups might respond.”

She said the results remained consistent even after considering other factors such as the relative wealth of each country, the severity of the pandemic at the time data was collected, and participants' perceived risk of catching the virus.

Additional reporting by SWNS