Who are Australia’s volunteers? (the 2019 update)

Nearly one-in-five people volunteered in the 12 months prior to the 2016 Census. In this piece, Glenn shares his 2019 update to the Australian volunteering story, highlighting the age groups that are most likely to volunteer, the difference between metropolitan and regional areas, and the local government areas with the highest rates of volunteering in Australia.

Since the 2006 Census, the ABS has collected information on whether a person volunteers for an organisation or group.

This is quite useful to our local government clients, who often are responsible for organising and maintaining an army of volunteers, who assist in the local community with sporting clubs, aged care, maintaining parks and gardens, keeping schools going and looking after the disadvantaged.

 

See volunteering data for your community – open our directory of community profiles here.

The 2016 Census showed that 3.6 million people had volunteered in the community in the previous year, or 19.0% of the population, up from 17.8% in 2011, an extra 530,000 volunteers over 5 years.

The question is quite broad – to answer “Yes” you only have to have volunteered once in the past 12 months. But the power of Census is not the detail of a specific question but the ability to cross-classify against other characteristics and paint a picture of a specific community.

 

So who are these people who are volunteering?

Here are a few key facts about Australia’s volunteer;

• Females are more likely to volunteer than males (21% of females to 17% of males).
• The age at which people volunteer has three distinct peaks. Females in their 40s (but much less so for males), and both sexes in their late teens and again in senior years from 60-75 for both sexes (but again more for females).

The peak among people in their 40s is interesting and likely corresponds with volunteering around school and children’s activities, hence the higher peak for females. For older populations, at retirement age, the peak is more close between the sexes, and this makes sense as many people volunteer after leaving the workforce.