The amount donated using the online service over the festive period grew by nearly a fifth compared to the previous year

The amount of people who used an online money service to donate to charity rose substantially during the festive period.

PayPal has revealed that users from 181 countries donated more than $1.1 billion (£797 million) to charitable organisations between 27 November and 31 December 2017. This amounted to a 19% increase compared to 2016.

UK residents handed over more than $59m (£42.75m), with a high proportion of the donations being reported on Giving Tuesday or 31 December.

“Giving Tuesday and our holiday campaign helped to bring the total amount of money donated on the PayPal platform in 2017 to more than $8.5 billion,” said PayPal president Dan Schulman.

“And while the whole is incredibly inspiring, I am deeply motivated by the parts -- by the people all around the world giving $10, $5, maybe even less in some instances, simply because they want to help.”