862 million euros: More money donated to Ukraine than ever before in Germany

According to an evaluation, more donations have flowed from Germany than ever before for emergency aid for the people in Ukraine affected by the Russian war of aggression.

According to surveys by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI), 862 million euros were donated to those affected by mid-October, according to a new publication by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).

If inflation is included, the total is somewhat exceeded by the donations made after the tsunami in Southeast Asia in December 2004 (EUR 670 million).

Largest fundraiser in the history of the Federal Republic

As early as March, i.e. shortly after the start of the war, the DZI had expected that the help for the victims of the Ukraine war would become the largest fundraiser in the history of the Federal Republic.

In third place in the new evaluation are the disaster donations after the flood in the Ahr Valley in summer 2021 - the donation volume is given as 655 million euros.

Measured by disposable household income, the lowest-income donors gave around 1.9 percent of disposable income, more than twice as much as the highest-income donors, who donated 0.9 percent of their household income, according to the survey published on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the ten percent of households with the highest income contributed significantly more than a third (37 percent) to the total donation volume.

Women donate more often than men, while men donate higher amounts of money.

According to the study, 12.9 billion euros were donated in Germany last year – more than in previous years.

The German Donations Council described the same trend at the beginning of March, but at a much lower level: the market research institute GfK compiles the “balance sheet of helping” every year on behalf of the donations council.

For 2021, the donation level is given as around 5.8 billion.

It is the best result since the survey began in 2005. The different results can be explained by the fact that the current publication by the DIW and DZI records higher donations (up to 30,000 euros instead of up to 2,500 euros) and also donations from people in Germany who are not German are.