Census 2006 - Results on Volunteering
Helping or voluntary work with a social or charitable organisation
Helping or voluntary work with a religious group or church
Helping or voluntary work with a sporting organisation
Helping or voluntary work with a political or cultural organisation
Any other voluntary activity.
(Respondents were also asked to note if they had not engaged in voluntary activity).
According to the Principal Results, 16.4% of the population aged 15 and over were involved in at least one of the five voluntary activity categories listed above i.e. one in six persons aged 15 and over. There was little difference between male and female levels of activity in volunteering. The activity with the highest recorded number of volunteers was social or charitable work (193,000 persons or 34.8% of active volunteers, 5.7% of the total population aged 15 and over). This was followed by sporting organisations (180,465 persons or 32.6% of active volunteers, 5.4% of the total population). 143,133 persons (25.9% of active volunteers, 4.2% of the total population) were involved with religious or church organisations, while 46,944 (8.5% of active volunteers, 1.4% of the total population) engaged with political or cultural organisations. Females made up 61% of voluntary workers involved with a religious group or church and 59% of voluntary social and charitable workers, while males accounted for 69% of those involved in voluntary sporting activities and 58% of political volunteers.
The 45-49 age group had the highest participation rate in voluntary activities (23.3%) while almost one in four of all voluntary workers were in their forties. Persons aged between 20-24 years were least likely to volunteer (10.4%). Higher and lower professionals had the highest participation rates in voluntary activities (24.7% and 25.6%, respectively) while semi-skilled and unskilled workers (12.9% and 9.4%, respectively) participated least.
Although there is no previous census data to compare this figure with, the National and Economic Social Forum did commission research on levels of social capital in 2002, including volunteering (The Policy Implications of Social Capital, 2003). According to the NESF, in 2002, 17.1% of the Irish population aged 18 and over engaged in ‘unpaid, regular voluntary activity or service outside the home or workplace’. Thus, the 2006 census suggests a very slight decline in volunteering (note, however, the age differential). 16.4% is certainly lower than the figure – 23.1% – suggested by the Taskforce on Active Citizenship, based on a survey it had undertaken in 2006 with 1,045 persons aged 16 and over. Given the small size of the Taskforce’s sample, it seems wise to discount its findings and focus instead on the comparisons and contrasts between the 2002 NESF study and the 2006 Census.
The 2006 Census confirms the findings of the NESF report with respect to the greater likelihood of volunteering in mid-life (40-64 years of age), the positive relationship between higher socio-economic / professional status and volunteering and, likewise, the positive relationship between lower socio-economic / professional status and not volunteering. By contrast, the 2006 Census records a lower percentage of adults aged 24 and under engaged in volunteering (11.7%) than the NESF 2002 study does adults aged 29 and under (16.9%). Significantly, the 2006 Census records a much higher percentage of persons aged 65 and over engaged in volunteering (14.9%) than the NESF 2002 study (6.1%).
In November of this year, Volume 11, Disability, Carers and Voluntary Activities of the 2006 Census will be published. This will shed further light on the levels of volunteering in Ireland.