Despite the spread of charity activities in South Korea, the country still lags far behind advanced countries in terms of the ratio of donations to Gross Domestic Product, showed data on Sunday.

According to a report released by the private Hyundai Research Institute, the nation’s donation amount continued to rise from 8.14 trillion won in 2006 to 12.49 trillion won in 2013. But its share in gross domestic product showed an immaterial increase during the same period. The share was 0.87 percent, not even half that of the United States which was at 2.0 percent.

In addition, the nation’s participation rate in donations was 34.5 percent in 2013, making it 25th among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the report.
(Graphic: Nam Kyung-don)