This statistic displays the percentage of the population volunteering in the U.S. from 2008 to 2023. Between September 2022 and September 2023, about 28.3 percent of adults in America were volunteering, a significant increase from the low rates seen in 2020 and 2021.

Introduction

Volunteering Statistics: The concept of volunteering is essential in building communities and providing services that many organizations cannot afford. It also provides the volunteers with a sense of achievement. In the year 2024, there are so many people devoting their time and energy to different endeavors, which tells a lot about the importance of volunteering in this present age.

This article provides the fundamental volunteering statistics for the year 2024 while focusing on the benefits of this act to time, population, and money used.

Between September 2022 and 2023, the formal volunteering rate among Americans aged 45 to 54 was estimated at **** percent. The age group with the highest percentage of volunteers was ** to 17-year-olds, with **** percent having volunteered with at least one organization in the same year.

This statistic displays the number of formal volunteers in the U.S. from 2008 to 2023. Between September 2022 and September 2023, about 75.7 million adults in America were volunteering, a significant increase from the low rates seen in 2020 and 2021.

The Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering (CEV) Supplement is the most robust longitudinal survey about volunteerism and other forms of civic engagement in the United States. Produced by AmeriCorps in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, the CEV takes the pulse of our nation’s civic health every two years. The data on this page was collected in September 2023. The next wave of the CEV will be administered in September 2025.

The CEV can generate reliable estimates at the national level, within states and the District of Columbia, and in the largest twelve Metropolitan Statistical Areas to support evidence-based decision making and efforts to understand how people make a difference in communities across the country.

Click on "Export" to download and review an excerpt from the 2023 CEV Analytic Codebook that shows the variables available in the analytic CEV datasets produced by AmeriCorps.

Click on "Show More" to download and review the following 2023 CEV data and resources provided as attachments:

1) 2023 CEV Dataset Fact Sheet – brief summary of technical aspects of the 2023 CEV dataset. 2) CEV FAQs – answers to frequently asked technical questions about the CEV 3) Constructs and measures in the CEV 4) 2023 CEV Analytic Data and Setup Files – analytic dataset in Stata (.dta), R (.rdata), SPSS (.sav), and Excel (.csv) formats, codebook for analytic dataset, and Stata code (.do) to convert raw dataset to analytic formatting produced by AmeriCorps. These files were updated on January 16, 2025 to correct erroneous missing values for the ssupwgt variable. 5) 2023 CEV Technical Documentation – codebook for raw dataset and full supplement documentation produced by U.S. Census Bureau 6) 2023 CEV Raw Data and Read In Files – raw dataset in Stata (.dta) format, Stata code (.do) and dictionary file (.dct) to read ASCII dataset (.dat) into Stata using layout files (.lis)

The Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering (CEV) Supplement is the most robust longitudinal survey about volunteerism and other forms of civic engagement in the United States. Produced by AmeriCorps in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, the CEV takes the pulse of our nation’s civic health every two years. The data on this page was collected in September 2021. The CEV can generate reliable estimates at the national level, within states and the District of Columbia, and in the largest twelve Metropolitan Statistical Areas to support evidence-based decision making and efforts to understand how people make a difference in communities across the country. Click on "Export" to download and review an excerpt from the 2021 CEV Analytic Codebook that shows the variables available in the analytic CEV datasets produced by AmeriCorps. Click on "Show More" to download and review the following 2021 CEV data and resources provided as attachments: 1) 2021 CEV Dataset Fact Sheet – brief summary of technical aspects of the 2021 CEV dataset. 2) CEV FAQs – answers to frequently asked technical questions about the CEV 3) Constructs and measures in the CEV 4) 2021 CEV Analytic Data and Setup Files – analytic dataset in Stata (.dta), R (.rdata), SPSS (.sav), and Excel (.csv) formats, codebook for analytic dataset, and Stata code (.do) to convert raw dataset to analytic formatting produced by AmeriCorps. These files were updated on January 16, 2025 to correct erroneous missing values for the ssupwgt variable. 5) 2021 CEV Technical Documentation – codebook for raw dataset and full supplement documentation produced by U.S. Census Bureau 6) Nonresponse Bias Analysis produced by U.S. Census Bureau 7) 2021 CEV Raw Data and Read In Files – raw dataset in Stata (.dta) format, Stata code (.do) and dictionary file (.dct) to read ASCII dataset (.dat) into Stata using layout files (.lis)

In 2023, around 16.06 million people in Germany did volunteer work. Numbers peaked in 2020 at over 17 million. This statistic shows how many people in Germany volunteered from 2019 to 2023.The Allensbach Market and Advertising Media Analysis (Allensbacher Markt- und Werbeträgeranalyse or AWA in German) determines attitudes, consumer habits and media usage of the population in Germany on a broad statistical basis.

This dataset reports statistics on volunteers in the Kansas City metro area. The data is from the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Volunteer rate and distribution of volunteer hours, population aged 15 and over, age group, 2013.

Abstract

The Volunteer Activities Survey (VAS) is a household-based survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The VAS collects information on the volunteer activities of individuals aged 15 years and older in South Africa. The respondents were selected from households who took part in the second quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). Volunteer activities covers unpaid non-compulsory work; that is, the time individuals give without pay to activities performed either through an organization or directly for others outside their own household.

Data on volunteering provides important information on skills application, social network development, social capital and quality of life outcomes. The main aim of the survey is to provide information on the scale of volunteer work and bring into view the sizeable part of the labour force that is invisible in existing labour statistics. The objectives of the VAS are:

• To collect reliable data about people who are involved in volunteer activities. • To identify organization-based and direct volunteering. • To give a profile of those engaged in volunteer activities. • To estimate the economic value of volunteer work.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

The target population of the survey consists of individuals aged 15 years and older who live in South Africa and who are members of households living in dwellings that have been selected to take part in the second quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) sample frame was used for data collection in the VAS. The sample for the QLFS is based on a stratified two-stage design with probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) in the first stage, and sampling of dwelling units (DUs) with systematic sampling in the second stage. The frame was developed as a general-purpose household survey frame that can be used by all other household surveys irrespective of the sample size requirement of the survey. The sample is based on information collected by Statistics SA during the 2001 Population Census and is designed to be representative at the provincial level and within provinces at the metro/non-metro level. Within the metros, the sample is further distributed by geography type. The four geography types are: urban formal, urban informal, farms and tribal land.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The 2018 VAS questionnaire consists of the following sections: - Particulars of the dwelling - Households at selected dwelling unit - Response details - Main activities

Volunteer rate and distribution of volunteer hours, for the population aged 15 and over, by definition of volunteering and education, Canada and provinces.

In 2023/24, approximately 54 percent of people in England advised that they had volunteered at least once in the previous year, with 33 percent volunteering at least once a month. In general, the share of people saying they volunteered has been declining since 2013/14, when approximately 70 percent of the population volunteered in a year.

Volunteer Opportunities and Finding Organizations.

Youth Agency Youth Voluntary Service System accumulates data on youth volunteering in host organisations. The Authority shall provide data to be collected from 2018 and updated. scheduled daily. The data collects host organizations name and address, year of application for volunteering, accepted, number and amount of rejected normal applications, applications for membership numbers as a curator and mentor.

Disaster Healthcare Volunteers (DHV) is a program that registers and credentials health professionals who may wish to volunteer during disaster including doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, dentists, mental health practitioners, etc. DHV may be used by local officials to support a variety of local needs, including augmenting medical staff at healthcare facilities or supporting mass vaccination clinics. DHV is California’s Emergency System for the Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP). This dataset lists the number of volunteers by their organizations.

The MEAE presents data on international volunteers each year. This information makes it possible to better understand the profiles, routes and destinations of volunteers who go abroad under the schemes supported directly or indirectly by the Ministry. These statistics are also useful to better guide and accompany them before, during and after their mission and to reach new audiences. The full pdf file is available on France Diplomatie: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/politique-etrangere-de-la-france/societe-civile-et-volontariat/volontariats

1. Environmental volunteering can benefit participants and nature through improving physical and mental wellbeing while encouraging environmental stewardship. To enhance achievement of these outcomes, conservation organisations need to reach different groups of people to increase participation in environmental volunteering. This paper explores what engages communities searching online for environmental volunteering.
   

2. We conducted a literature review of 1032 papers to determine key factors fostering participation by existing volunteers in environmental projects. We found the most important factor was to tailor projects to the motivations of participants. Also important were: promoting projects to people with relevant interests; meeting the perceived benefits of volunteers and removing barriers to participation.
   

3. We then assessed the composition and factors fostering participation of the NatureVolunteers’s online community (n = 2216) of potential environmental volunteers and compared findings with those from the literature review. We asked whether projects advertised by conservation organisations meet motivations and interests of this online community.
   

4. Using Facebook insights and Google Analytics we found that the online community were on average younger than extant communities observed in studies of environmental volunteering. Their motivations were also different as they were more interested in physical activity and using skills and less in social factors. They also exhibited preference for projects which are outdoor based, and which offer close contact with wildlife. Finally, we found that the online community showed a stronger preference for habitat improvement projects over those involving species-survey based citizen science.
   

5. Our results demonstrate mis-matches between what our online community are looking for and what is advertised by conservation organisations. The online community are looking for projects which are more solitary, more physically active and more accessible by organised transport. We discuss how our results may be used by conservation organisations to better engage with more people searching for environmental volunteering opportunities online.
   

6. We conclude that there is a pool of young people attracted to environmental volunteering projects whose interests are different to those of current volunteers. If conservation organisations can develop projects that meet these interests, they can engage larger and more diverse communities in nature volunteering.
   

Methods The data set consists of separate sheets for each set of results presented in the paper. Each sheet contains the full data, summary descriptive statistics analysis and graphs presented in the paper. The method for collection and processing of the dataset in each sheet is as follows:

The data set for results presented in Figure 1 in the paper - Sheet: "Literature"

We conducted a review of literature on improving participation within nature conservation projects. This enabled us to determine what the most important factors were for participating in environmental projects, the composition of the populations sampled and the methods by which data were collected. The search terms used were (Environment* OR nature OR conservation) AND (Volunteer* OR “citizen science”) AND (Recruit* OR participat* OR retain* OR interest*). We reviewed all articles identified in the Web of Science database and the first 50 articles sorted for relevance in Google Scholar on the 22nd October 2019. Articles were first reviewed by title, secondly by abstract and thirdly by full text. They were retained or excluded according to criteria agreed by the authors of this paper. These criteria were as follows - that the paper topic was volunteering in the environment, including citizen science, community-based projects and conservation abroad, and included the study of factors which could improve participation in projects. Papers were excluded for topics irrelevant to this study, the most frequent being the outcomes of volunteering for participants (such as behavioural change and knowledge gain), improving citizen science data and the usefulness of citizen science data. The remaining final set of selected papers was then read to extract information on the factors influencing participation, the population sampled and the data collection methods. In total 1032 papers were reviewed of which 31 comprised the final selected set read in full. Four factors were identified in these papers which improve volunteer recruitment and retention. These were: tailoring projects to the motivations of participants, promoting projects to people with relevant hobbies and interests, meeting the perceived benefits of volunteers and removing barriers to participation.

The data set for results presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3 in the paper - Sheet "Demographics"

To determine if the motivations and interests expressed by volunteers in literature were representative of wider society, NatureVolunteers was exhibited at three UK public engagement events during May and June 2019; Hullabaloo Festival (Isle of Wight), The Great Wildlife Exploration (Bournemouth) and Festival of Nature (Bristol). This allowed us to engage with people who may not have ordinarily considered volunteering and encourage people to use the website. A combination of surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from the public regarding demographics and volunteering. In line with our ethics approval, no personal data were collected that could identify individuals and all participants gave informed consent for their anonymous information to be used for research purposes. The semi-structured interviews consisted of conducting the survey in a conversation with the respondent, rather than the respondent filling in the questionnaire privately and responses were recorded immediately by the interviewer. Hullabaloo Festival was a free discovery and exploration event where NatureVolunteers had a small display and surveys available. The Great Wildlife Exploration was a Bioblitz designed to highlight the importance of urban greenspaces where we had a stall with wildlife crafts promoting NatureVolunteers. The Festival of Nature was the UK’s largest nature-based festival in 2019 where we again had wildlife crafts available promoting NatureVolunteers. The surveys conducted at these events sampled a population of people who already expressed an interest in nature and the environment by attending the events and visiting the NatureVolunteers stand. In total 100 completed surveys were received from the events NatureVolunteers exhibited at; 21 from Hullabaloo Festival, 25 from the Great Wildlife Exploration and 54 from the Festival of Nature. At Hullabaloo Festival information on gender was not recorded for all responses and was consequently entered as “unrecorded”.

OVERALL DESCRIPTION OF METHOD DATA COLLECTION FOR ALL OTHER RESULTS (Figures 4-7 and Tables 1-2)

The remaining data were all collected from the NatureVolunteers website. The NatureVolunteers website https://www.naturevolunteers.uk/ was set up in 2018 with funding support from the Higher Education Innovation Fund to expand the range of people accessing nature volunteering opportunities in the UK. It is designed to particularly appeal to people who are new to nature volunteering including young adults wishing to expand their horizons, families looking for ways connect with nature to enhance well-being and older people wishing to share their time and life experiences to help nature. In addition, it was designed to be helpful to professionals working in the countryside & wildlife conservation sectors who wish to enhance their skills through volunteering. As part of the website’s development we created and used an online project database, www.naturevolunteers.uk (hereafter referred to as NatureVolunteers), to assess the needs and interests of our online community. Our research work was granted ethical approval by the Bournemouth University Ethics Committee. The website collects entirely anonymous data on our online community of website users that enables us to evaluate what sort of projects and project attributes most appeal to our online community. Visitors using the website to find projects are informed as part of the guidance on using the search function that this fully anonymous information is collected by the website to enhance and share research understanding of how conservation organisations can tailor their future projects to better match the interests of potential volunteers. Our online community was built up over the 2018-2019 through open advertising of the website nationally through the social media channels of our partner conservation organisations, through a range of public engagement in science events and nature-based festivals across southern England and through our extended network of friends and families, their own social media networks and the NatureVolunteers website’s own social network on Facebook and Twitter. There were 2216 searches for projects on NatureVolunteers from January 1st to October 25th, 2019.

The data set for results presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3 in the paper - Sheet "Demographics"

On the website, users searching for projects were firstly asked to specify their expectations of projects. These expectations encompass the benefits of volunteering by asking whether the project includes social interaction, whether particular skills are required or can be developed, and whether physical activity is involved. The barriers to participation are incorporated by asking whether the project is suitable for families, and whether organised transport is provided. Users were asked to rate the importance of the five project expectations on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 (Not at all = 1, Not really = 2, Neutral = 3, It

In this table you will find annual figures on the number of volunteers aged 18 years or older, the average number of hours volunteers are active and the percentage of volunteers among the population aged 18 or older. The EBB asked whether respondents are volunteering and whether they do so for an organisation or institution. Those who answer both questions in the affirmative are considered to be an organised volunteer. Then it was asked for what type of organisation and for how many hours they are active. When someone does volunteering for multiple types of organisations, the total number of hours specified is distributed among those organisations. The data on volunteering comes from the Labour Force Survey (EBB). Data on the main source of income of respondents come from the Social Statistical File (SSB) and have been added to the EBB.

Data available for 2001-2009

Status of the figures Figures based on EBB are always final.

Amendment as of 7 December 2011: Data on main source of income have been included for reporting year 2009.

When are new figures coming? It’s about one-off data.

Cultural volunteer statistical data from the Ministry of Culture survey.

In 2017, **** percent of people in the United States aged between 35 and 54 years old with an advanced degree volunteered - the highest of any age group and education level. The group with the lowest rate of volunteering was those aged over ** without a high school diploma, with *** percent of this group volunteering during 2017.