64 to 70% of the population of the Nordic countries give to charity. Swedes and Norwegians were more likely to give to charity in 2026, while Finns and Danes have become slightly less generous. The United Nations observes the International Day of Charity every year on September 5 to raise awareness and encourage global solidarity.
Six in ten people globally gave money to good causes in 2025, whether directly to people in need, to charity, or for religious reasons, the World Giving Report 2026 says. People in Asia and Africa were the most likely to give money, while those in South America were the least likely.
On average, people donated 1% of their incomes in 2025. However, this varied between continents, with Africans donating the highest percentage of their incomes (1.6%) and Europeans donating the lowest (0.6%).
Humanitarian assistance supported
According to Nordic Donor Report 2026 seven in ten (70%) Norwegians, up from 66% last year, said they donate regularly or occasionally to charities. In Denmark, which was the most generous nation in the 2024 and 2025 surveys, the figure fell slightly from 67% to 66%.
Sweden also overtook Denmark, moving from 64% to 69%, while Finland’s figure dropped from 50% to 48%. Between 2024 and 2025, the donor share had risen in all four countries, by at least six percentage points, with around 1,000 adults surveyed in each country. Humanitarian assistance is among the causes most frequently supported.
According to the European Research Network on Philanthropy report Philanthropy in Europe, published in March 2026, 64.1% of Icelandic respondents said they had donated money at some point during the previous year. Among those donating, health-related organisations were the most commonly supported (39%), followed by social services (29%) and international assistance (25%). The study included 644 respondents.
Nordic contributions to the UN system
International Day of Charity provides an opportunity to recognise not only individual acts of generosity, but also the role of collective and institutional solidarity in addressing poverty, humanitarian need and inequality worldwide. According to the 2026 OECD Development Co-operation Profiles, which examine development co-operation and funding data from 2024, a substantial proportion of Nordic contributions to multilateral organisations was channelled through the United Nations system.
According to OECD data, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden together provided approximately $3.9 billion to the UN system in 2024, comprising around $1.4 billion each from Norway and Sweden, $840 million from Denmark, $274 million from Finland and $41 million from Iceland. While these figures represent official development assistance rather than private donations, they provide a complementary perspective on Nordic engagement with humanitarian and development efforts internationally.
The figures include both core funding and contributions earmarked for particular countries, programmes or purposes.
UNDP large recipient
The countries differ in where their UN funding goes. UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNHCR are among the largest recipients across the region. Denmark’s and Norway’s largest recipients were UNDP. Sweden’s largest recipient was UNICEF, and Finland’s was UNHCR. Iceland’s three largest UN recipients were UNICEF, the World Food Programme and UNHCR.
Iceland stands out in another respect. While its contribution is much smaller in absolute terms, 65.6% of Iceland’s contributions to multilateral organisations went to the UN system in 2024. The corresponding figures were 51.2% for Norway, 46.2% for Sweden, 45.6% for Denmark and 33.7% for Finland. The figures therefore show both the scale of Nordic support for the UN and significant differences in how the five countries channel their multilateral development assistance.
The International Day of Charity was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities. The date of 5 September was chosen in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.”