By Khaleeq Kiani
Published in Dawn on January 09, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Religious motivation for charity puts Pakistanis among the top donors in the world, but 42 per cent of people express their inability to donate due to financial constraints.
This has been reported by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP), a non-governmental organisation, based on The World Giving Report (WGR) 2025 and its own surveys and evaluation of over 5,000 not-for-profit organisations in the country.
The PCP says about two-thirds (73pc) of Pakistanis donated money in 2024 for various social causes.
“This is above the global average of 64pc and the continental average of 69pc. This is reflective of the generous impulse of charitable giving for causes people care for,” the PCP says in its ‘Giving in Pakistan 2025’ report.
Interestingly, Nigeria scores the highest at 89pc, while Japan ranks the lowest with 16pc.
As such, Pakistan ranks 17th out of 101 countries for how generous its people are and also places 17th in terms of the proportion of income donated.
In terms of percentage of income donated at 1.64pc, Pakistan ranks above the global average of 1.04pc despite having an income distribution highly skewed towards the middle- and low-income brackets.
In contrast, volunteering is not a common practice in Pakistan, as only 16pc of people report having volunteered time in 2024.
This reflects into just 3.5 hours volunteered on average per person, nearly half of the continental average of 7.5 hours and far lower than 8.9 hours of the global average.
The report finds that lack of affordability is the predominant cause of non-giving in all parts of the world, including Pakistan.
Out of the 27pc non-givers, the major reason mentioned for not giving is lack of affordability in Pakistan, compared to 40pc average globally and 35pc in the Asia continent.
However, 18pc of non-monetary givers prefer to give in-kind — in the form of food or other support.
A total of 42pc of people did not donate in 2024 due to lack of affordability.
Major motivations
The PCP notes religious motivation and compassion for a cause as the leading reasons for giving money. Among the people who donated, the top three reasons are religious obligation (58pc), care about a cause (54pc) and a sense of duty to give to charity (49pc).
The report says Pakistanis prefer to donate money directly to a person or family in need, accounting for the highest proportion at 51pc, followed by giving money to charities at 47pc and religious causes at 34pc.
These proportions are all higher than global and continental scores, and the “pattern of giving in Pakistan indicates that faith-based giving and deep compassion for helping a person or family in need runs through every neighbourhood and community”.
The survey also shows that Pakistanis give money frequently with nearly 18pc donating more than 12 times during 2024 and 21pc giving between six and 11 times — both figures are higher than global and continental averages.
“This relatively higher frequency of giving could be attributed to the general trend of donating on religious and cultural occasions, such as [the] festivals of Ramazan, Eid and other religious events.”
Direct giving
Of all money given in 2024, 44.7pc goes directly to people in need, far more than to charities (33.8pc) and to religious reasons (21.5pc.).
This shows that Pakistan’s giving profile leans heavily towards direct giving instead of formalised charity, hence a preference for informal giving to individuals.
Also, the generosity in Pakistan felt like a duty — hard-wired into the culture.
This behaviour could be closely associated with religious norms and obligations such as Zakat, Sadaqah and Fitrana
Around 89pc felt “happy” fulfilling this duty, while nearly 70pc felt “very happy”.
The PCP argues that improved credibility and effectiveness of the charity sector could increase donations.
About 32pc of people show more willingness to donate if charities are well-regulated and almost a same proportion are ready to donate if they had more money.
Around 29pc appeared ready to increase their donations if they knew more about how and where their money was spent.
Poverty and religious organisations are the most popular causes in Pakistan, followed by homelessness and disability-related reasons.
Around 39pc of giving goes to the poor, 38pc to religious organisations, 30pc to the homeless and 28pc to people with disabilities.
Pakistanis also trusted their charity organisations more than the regional and global averages.
Overall, the public in Pakistan give a score of 10.4 out of 15 for how much they trust charities, compared to an Asian average of 9.65 and a global average of 9.22.
