Consumers and organizations in the Netherlands donated almost 4.4 billion euros (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) to charitable institutions in 2005, a drop of 500 million euros (670 million dollars) from 2003, a study showed.

The decline was entirely due to fewer donations by businesses. They contributed 1.51 billion euros (2.02 billion dollars) in the form of gifts or sponsoring, compared to 2.27 billion euros (3.04 billion dollars) in 2003, according to the biannual study "Giving in the Netherlands," carried out by the Free University in Amsterdam, Dutch news agency NIS reported Thursday.

The research was compiled into a book presented Wednesday during a symposium on philanthropy. The book contains figures on the donating behavior of Dutch households, businesses, lotteries and immigrants.

Dutch consumers remained among the most generous charity givers in the world, in spite of their international image of thriftiness, researchers found.

"Ideological charities" attracted the biggest slice of donations, at 18 percent, while 17 percent went to international aid funds and 16 percent went to sports and recreation foundations.

Immigrants donated 200 million euros (268 million dollars) to charity. About 155 million euros (207 million dollars) of this sum went to their countries of origin, mostly as gifts to relatives living there, gifts also defined by the researchers as charity contributions.

Source: Xinhua