Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam led the AsiaPacific region’s most generous market, with 78.5 percent of consumers giving tocharities.

It was followed by Thailand (66.3 percent) andHong Kong (60.2 percent). This was revealed in the latest Mastercard EthicalSpending and Charitable Giving Survey released recently, Vietnamplus reportedon October 27.

According to the survey, more than half theconsumers surveyed (50.4 percent) in November 2016 said they were doing theirpart for charity through donations, a slight increase from 49.9 percent in theprevious year.

The study revealed that children’s cause is oneof the top three causes consumers across all 14 markets donate to.

Keen to nurture future generations, consumersacross the region ranked children’s education and health (37.8 percent) as thecause closest to their hearts, according to the survey’s findings.

Consumers in the region also care about otherareas, including local natural disaster relief efforts (33.7 percent), as wellas poverty and starvation alleviation initiatives (32.1 percent).

More consumers in New Zealand (11.1 percent),Vietnam (8.7 percent) and Hong Kong (6.6 percent) are donating to charities,compared to the previous year, while the number of consumers from China (7.0percent), India (5.8 percent) and Indonesia (4.1 percent) is declining, thesurvey said.

Georgette Tan, Senior Vice President ofCommunications of Mastercard in the Asia-Pacific, said on the website, “As Asiacontinues to make strong economic headway, we must not forget that the developmentneeds in the region remain pervasive. We are very encouraged by this year’sfindings, which show that consumers across both developed and emerging marketsare doing their part to help those less fortunate and to give back to theircommunities."

"Additionally, with the high value placedon education in the Asian culture, it’s strongly encouraging to see thatchildren’s education and health are the causes consumers are looking tosupport,” he said.

The survey also revealed that consumers in the regiontend to have a higher sense of responsibility in purchasing activities. Morepeople make purchasing decisions based on whether the products areenvironmentally friendly, follow fair trade principles or their producers aresocially responsible and donate part of their revenue towards good causes.

The survey was carried out across 14 markets inAsia Pacific: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan,Thailand and Vietnam. A total of 8,738 consumers were polled online in November2016. – VNA