Viet Nam led the Asia Pacific region’s most generous market, with 78.5 per cent of consumers giving to charities.

Vietnamese consumers also care about natural disaster relief apart from children’s education and health. - Photo Vietnamplus

It was followed by Thailand (66.3 per cent) and Hong Kong (60.2 per cent). This was revealed in the latest Mastercard Ethical Spending and Charitable Giving Survey released recently, Vietnamplus reported yesterday.

According to the survey, more than half the consumers surveyed (50.4 per cent) in November 2016 said they were doing their part for charity through donations, a slight increase from 49.9 per cent in the previous year.

The study revealed that children’s cause is one of the top three causes consumers across all 14 markets donate to.

Keen to nurture future generations, consumers across the region ranked children’s education and health (37.8 per cent) as the cause closest to their hearts, according to the survey’s findings.

Consumers in the region also care about other areas, including local natural disaster relief efforts (33.7 per cent), as well as poverty and starvation alleviation initiatives (32.1 per cent).

More consumers in New Zealand (11.1 per cent), Việt Nam  (8.7 per cent) and Hong Kong (6.6 per cent) are donating to charities, compared to the previous year, while the number of consumers from China (7.0 per cent), India (5.8 per cent) and Indonesia (4.1 per cent) is declining, the survey said.

Georgette Tan, Senior Vice President of Communications of Mastercard in the Asia-Pacific, said on the website, “As Asia continues to make strong economic headway, we must not forget that the development needs in the region remain pervasive. We are very encouraged by this year’s findings, which show that consumers across both developed and emerging markets are doing their part to help those less fortunate and to give back to their communities."

"Additionally, with the high value placed on education in the Asian culture, it’s strongly encouraging to see that children’s education and health are the causes consumers are looking to support,” he said.

The survey also revealed that consumers in the region tend to have a higher sense of responsibility in purchasing activities. More people make purchasing decisions based on whether the products are environmentally friendly, follow fair trade principles or their producers are socially responsible and donate part of their revenue towards good causes.

The survey was carried out across 14 markets in Asia Pacific: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Việt Nam. A total of 8,738 consumers were polled online in November 2016. – VNS