The figures come from five year analysis of more than 180,000 UK charitable estates

More people are leaving legacies to environmental and overseas aid charities – but less to religious ones, new data has revealed.

The figures come from five year analysis of more than 180,000 UK charitable estates by legacy information provider Smee & Ford.

It found that overseas aid and environmental charities benefited from 109 and 86 more legacies respectively in 2017 than they had received in 2013.

However, religious charities received 1,340 fewer legacies over the same period.

The figures, which have not been broken down to the UK’s constituent nations, show that medical, rescue services and sport charities also performed well.

But older people’s charities, those covering children and young people, the disabled and local communities experienced a fall in legacy gifts.

Mark Pincher, data analyst at Smee & Ford, said: "Taking a macro look at legacy giving trends over the five years, the number of legacies has remained consistent, with between 35,000 and 38,000 charitable estates registered each year.

"Looking at the five-year trends, the most notable shift has been in the type of organisation that people are choosing to support. This is very early evidence of a change in donor behaviour over time."

Recent research shows a quarter of charity donors will leave a charitable legacy or have already done so.

According to the latest figures from Remember A Charity, only 9% won’t be leaving a legacy donation, down from 13% in 2009.

The research also indicates that awareness of legacies is growing, with just 12% of those surveyed saying they are unaware of the option of donating to charity through their will.