Muslims in the City of London, Cambridge and Epping Forest in Essex are the most generous of their faith in the UK, analysis of their giving suggests.

The figures have been compiled by UK charity National Zakat Foundation, which provides financial support to Muslims in the UK through distribution of Zakat, which is part of the Islamic faith and sees Muslims give a proportion of their wealth to charity.

Its study looked at the number of Muslims in each region and how much is being given per person according to data from its Zakat Live tool.

This found that the City of London’s wealthy population of 540 Muslims gave £21,946 in total.

The Foundation notes that “although having one of the smallest numbers of Muslims in the region, it’s not surprising that the city of London donated the most, as the population that live within that borough are some of the wealthiest in the country and have the highest gross disposable household income in England and Wales”.

In second place is Cambridge where the area’s 7,392 Muslims donated £83,081. Meanwhile in third place is Epping Forst, where the Essex area’s 4,699 Muslims gave £41,139. Both are in the top third of councils when measured on gross disposable household income.

Other areas to feature in the top ten are Tewkesbury in the Cotswolds, Blaby in Leicestershire, Surrey’s Tandridge, Sevenoaks in Kent, Richmond upon Thames, Wyre Forest in Worcestershire and Kingston upon Thames.

When focused on counties, Northumberland is ranked top, followed by Cambridgeshire, Surrey and Hertfordshire.

Northumberland’s 1,635 Muslims gave away £5,815, the figures show.



In June a survey, carried out by agency Blue Slate, found that the demographic of the UK’s perfect charity donor is a middle-aged Muslim resident of the West Midlands, who earns more than £75,000 a year.

This profile was created based on findings showing that British Muslims are significantly more generous that non-Muslims. While 20% of all those surveyed said they intend to donate more to charity in 2023 than last year, this proportion rockets to 53% among Muslims, this survey found.

In addition, more than a fifth (21%) of British Muslims gave more than £500 last year, the highest of any group.

Meanwhile, the research found that the most generous region is the West Midlands and the most generous age group are the 55-64s.

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