Britain is a generous nation - just not as generous as before

British people gave a staggering £9.7bn to good causes in the last 12 months, a new report has revealed.

However the report also showed the UK has slipped out of the top 10 most generous nations in the world.

Some 61% of the country’s population gave to charity, according to the Charity Aid Foundation’s annual World Giving Index.

Sir John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said: “This year’s index results are slightly down on last year’s but it’s too early to know if this is a cause for real concern.

“It does remind us that our global culture of generosity should never be taken for granted.

“Governments worldwide should make it a priority to encourage giving, build up civil society and seize the opportunity to translate economic development into a culture of generosity that will benefit everyone.”

The index, published annually since 2010, is based on a survey of more than 146,000 people in 139 countries.

It measures numbers giving cash, participating in volunteering and helping a stranger. Global totals are this year down on all three factors.

The UK, US and Australia all drop three places in the 2017 table, with the UK falling from eighth to 11th. Only six of the G20 largest economies in the world feature in this year’s top 20.

Giving was down overall across the globe, with scores falling among the world’s more developed nations.

Every Western country in the top 20 including New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Malta, Iceland and Norway had a decreases in their giving scores of between one and five percentage points.

While the UK fell out of the top 10, only two European countries remained with Ireland now being the most generous country in Europe, followed by the Netherlands.

Myanmar retained its top spot as the world’s most generous country for the fourth year in a row, however its overall score was five percentage points lower than in 2016.