Despite price increases and increased energy costs, Germans continued to donate large amounts of money in 2022.
At around 5.7 billion euros, donations were only 1.6 percent below the previous year.
This is the second-highest amount since the survey began in 2005. This is the result of the "Balance sheet of helping" presented by the German Donations Council on Wednesday.
Branch manager Lars Kolan spoke of an "outstanding year of donations".
The previous record value was reached in 2021 with 5.76 billion euros, in particular the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley had persuaded many people to donate.
In 2022, around 28 percent of Germans donated an average of 43 euros - seven times a year.
Especially in the months of February, March and April, which were marked by the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the volume of donations rose sharply compared to the previous year.
Bianca Corcoran from the Society for Consumer Research, which conducts the donation panel, spoke of a "downer".
The number of those who decided to make a donation fell again and is lower than ever.
In 2019 there were 19.5 million Germans, in 2022 only 18.7 million.
However, they gave an average of five euros more per donation.
People over the age of 60 continue to donate the most money.
More than three quarters of the donations went to emergency and disaster relief, which received 117 million euros more than in the previous year.
A lot of money was donated especially for the refugees from Ukraine.
There were losses, for example, in development aid and child and youth welfare.
It is conceivable that in this field, given the uncertain economic situation, sponsorships associated with long-term costs were terminated.
As the survey shows, more than 40 percent of people plan to donate the same amount of money this year as they did before, and twelve percent even plan to give more.
Almost a third, on the other hand, wants to reduce the donation budget.