Keen to nurture future generations, consumers across Asia Pacific ranked children’s education and health (37.8 percent) as the cause closest to their hearts, according to findings from the latest Mastercard Ethical Spending and Charitable Giving Survey.
Released ahead of the International Day of Charity on 5 September, the study revealed children’s causes as one of the top three causes consumers across all 14 markets would donate to.
More than half of the consumers surveyed (50.4 percent) in November 2016 said they were doing their part for charity through donations, a slight increase from 49.9 percent in the previous year. Vietnam led as the region’s most generous market, with 78.5 percent of consumers giving to charities, followed by Thailand (66.3 percent) and Hong Kong (60.2 percent).
Georgette Tan, Senior Vice President, Communications, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said, “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 give back to their communities. Additionally, with the high value placed on education in Asian culture, it’s strongly encouraging to see that children’s education and health is the cause that consumers are looking to support.”
“Through our citizenship initiatives, we collaborate with partners to provide consumers with convenient ways to support the causes that matter most to them. These partnerships aim to encourage consumers to think before they shop so we are all working together to create more inclusive communities across the region,” said Tan.
Monetary donations are not the only way Asia Pacific’s consumers are giving back. The survey found that 53.2 percent of consumers were making purchases in support of ethical causes. Southeast Asian consumers, led by Indonesians (75. 5 percent), Thais (72.3 percent) and Malaysians (70.5 percent), are most likely to consider whether a product is fair trade, environmentally friendly or donates a portion of proceeds to charity, when making purchases.
Detailed findings