Contents
- Volunteer age distribution statistics: monthly formal volunteering rates by age in England
- Volunteer age distribution statistics: monthly informal and combined participation by age in England
- Volunteer age distribution statistics: national age-group volunteer rates in South Africa
- Volunteer age distribution in Ireland: composition and participation by age group
- Volunteer age distribution statistics: average ages by activity and county
- Volunteer age distribution statistics: age differences in volunteering patterns in Scotland
- Sources
Volunteer age distribution statistics: monthly formal volunteering rates by age in England
Monthly formal volunteering rates in England varied across the reported age groups in the 2025/26 Community and Engagement Survey. The measure is whether a person reported formal volunteering at least once a month; the survey base is people aged 16 and over. It describes participation within each age band, rather than the ages that make up the volunteer population.
| Age group | Monthly formal volunteering, 2025/26 |
|---|---|
| 25–34 | 12% |
| 35–49 | 17% |
| 50–64 | 19% |
| 65–74 | 25% |
| 75 and over | 24% |
The survey report gives an England average of 18% for monthly formal volunteering. The age-specific results sit below that average for ages 25–34 and 35–49, and above it for ages 50–64, 65–74 and 75 and over. The highest listed rate is 25% for ages 65–74; the oldest group is close behind at 24%. This makes the profile more informative than a simple young-versus-old split: the measured rate rises across the first four listed bands, then is 1 percentage point lower in the 75-and-over band.
These are self-reported demographic survey results. The report notes demographic questions were voluntary, so the values should be read as estimates from survey responses, not a census count of every resident. The monthly frequency threshold also matters: these figures do not represent everyone who volunteered at any point in a year, nor do they measure hours or intensity of service. Source: Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26, sections 2.3 and Figure 1.3
Volunteer age distribution statistics: monthly informal and combined participation by age in England
The same England survey reports monthly informal volunteering separately from combined monthly participation in formal or informal volunteering. Keeping these measures apart is important: helping people directly or informally is not the same category as volunteering through an organization, while the combined measure counts either form. All rates below use the survey’s age-specific population base of people aged 16 and over in England in 2025/26.
| Age group | Informal volunteering monthly | Formal or informal volunteering monthly |
|---|---|---|
| 16–24 | 29% | 38% |
| 25–34 | 21% | 28% |
| 35–49 | 22% | 32% |
| 50–64 | 24% | — |
| 65–74 | 29% | 42% |
| 75 and over | 30% | 41% |
The informal measure’s England average was 25%. Ages 16–24 and ages 65–74 matched at 29%, while 75 and over recorded 30%; the listed groups aged 25–64 were below the stated average, at 21%, 22% and 24%. The 25–34 figure is the lowest among the supplied informal age observations. The overall pattern therefore differs from a claim that informal volunteering is concentrated only among younger people: the oldest reported band also has a high monthly rate.
For the combined measure, the England average was 35%. Ages 16–24 were above it at 38%, while ages 25–34 and 35–49 were below it at 28% and 32%. The two older groups shown were also above average, at 42% for ages 65–74 and 41% for ages 75 and over. These are not complete distributions for every age band: combined values are available here only for the listed groups. The dash is not a zero or a measured value; no combined figure for ages 50–64 is included in the checked observations.
The paired columns also should not be treated as interchangeable or added together. Informal volunteering can overlap with formal volunteering, and the combined result is a distinct reported indicator. Its value describes the share doing either form monthly, not a sum of the two rates. Source: Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26, sections 3.3 and 4.3; Figures 2.2 and 3.2
Volunteer age distribution statistics: national age-group volunteer rates in South Africa
South Africa’s Volunteer Activities Survey provides a national age-group volunteer rate for 2024 among people aged 15 and older. The supplied observations use the report’s original percentage notation, with a comma as the decimal separator.
| Age group | Volunteer rate, 2024 |
|---|---|
| 15–24 | 3,2% |
| 25–34 | 6,8% |
| 35–44 | 8,0% |
| 45–54 | 9,7% |
| 55–64 | 9,9% |
| 65 and over | 6,0% |
The rate climbs across the listed age groups from 3,2% among ages 15–24 to 9,9% among ages 55–64. It then is lower in the 65-and-over group, at 6,0%. Within these reported observations, ages 55–64 have the highest rate and ages 15–24 the lowest. This is a national age-group participation measure, so it answers what share of each age group volunteered; it does not show the age composition of all volunteers.
The supplied values are from Figure 5 of the 2024 survey report, which presents rates for multiple survey years. The table here uses only the 2024 column. It does not imply that the rate moved between ages because of any particular social or economic cause, and it should not be directly ranked against England or Scotland’s monthly measures: populations, definitions and reference periods differ. Source: Statistics South Africa, Volunteer Activities Survey, 2024, Figure 5
Volunteer age distribution in Ireland: composition and participation by age group
Ireland’s 2022 Census results offer two different views of age. One describes the composition of volunteers: what share of all people who volunteered fell into particular age ranges. The other describes age-specific participation: what share of residents in each age band volunteered. Those denominators answer different questions and should remain distinct.
In the Census age profile, 38% of all volunteers were aged 45–64, while a further 29% were aged 25–44. Together, these observations show the largest reported composition group was 45–64, with a substantial share also in the 25–44 band. They do not reveal the participation rate for those age groups, because the denominator is all volunteers, rather than everyone in the age band. Source: Central Statistics Office, Census of Population 2022 Spotlight Series, “Age Profile of Volunteers”
A separate age analysis reports the share volunteering in one or more activity within each age group. It also gives each age band’s population and volunteer count, preserving the denominator context:
| Age group | Population in age group | Volunteers | Participation rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–14 | 1,012,287 | 30,133 | 3% |
| 15–24 | 644,771 | 73,813 | 11% |
| 25–44 | 1,422,424 | 209,760 | 15% |
| 45–64 | 1,293,342 | 270,688 | 21% |
| 65 and over | 776,315 | 126,985 | 16% |
The reported participation rate rises from 3% among children aged 0–14 to 11% among ages 15–24, 15% among ages 25–44 and 21% among ages 45–64. For residents aged 65 and over, it is 16%. Thus, the age band with the largest participation rate in this series is 45–64, while the oldest group’s rate is below that level but above the rates for the first three age groups shown. These are age-specific participation percentages, unlike the earlier composition shares of 38% and 29%.
The two presentations can complement one another without being combined. A group may account for a large part of all volunteers because of its population size, its participation rate, or both; the composition percentages alone do not isolate those factors. The age-specific table supplies denominators and counts, but does not change the distinct meaning of the Census age profile. Source: Volunteer Ireland, Report on Census 2022 Data: Volunteering by Age, page 24
Volunteer age distribution statistics: average ages by activity and county
The Central Statistics Office reports a mean age of 47 years for people in Ireland who volunteered in one or more activity in 2022. For people who did not volunteer, the reported average age was 37.5 years. These statistics describe the average age of each group; they do not mean every volunteer was close to the average, or that age alone explains whether someone volunteered.
The average age also varied by activity category. In 2022, volunteers in sporting organisations had an average age of 44.8 years, the lowest among the volunteering categories described in the source. The average for volunteers in religious groups was 53.4 years, the highest among those categories. Political-organisation volunteers averaged 52.6 years. These figures show that a single overall average can conceal different age profiles across kinds of voluntary activity. Source: Central Statistics Office, Census of Population 2022 Spotlight Series, “Average Age of Volunteers,” Table 1.6
The source also gives earlier averages for comparison: volunteers aged 15 and over averaged 45.1 years in 2006, compared with 48.6 years in 2022. Sporting-organisation volunteers averaged 41.7 years in 2006 and 44.8 years in 2022. The political category averaged 46.7 years in 2006 and 52.6 years in 2022, but the 2006 category was broader, including cultural organisations. The CSO cautions that the overall comparison has limited comparability because census wording and activity categories changed. These earlier values therefore provide historical context, not a fully like-for-like trend series.
The evidence here concerns national averages by volunteer status and activity. It does not include county-specific average ages, even though the heading names county. No county ranking or local estimate can be inferred from the supplied figures. Source: Central Statistics Office, Census of Population 2022 Spotlight Series, “Average Age of Volunteers,” Figures 1.5–1.6 and Tables 1.6 and 1.8
The average age of Irish volunteers in sporting organisations was 43 years in 2022, the lowest average among the volunteering categories. Census of Population 2022 Spotlight Series: Volunteering in Ireland
Volunteer age distribution statistics: age differences in volunteering patterns in Scotland
Scotland’s 2025 Household Survey reports volunteering in the previous 12 months. Among respondents, 54% of those aged 35–59 reported any kind of volunteering in the last year, compared with 50% in each of the 16–34 and 60-and-over groups. For formal volunteering specifically, the shares were 30% for ages 35–59 and 25% for both ages 16–34 and ages 60 and over. The middle age group therefore had the highest reported rate for both the broad “any volunteering” measure and the formal measure in these comparisons.
These rates refer to survey respondents and a 12-month reference period. They are not monthly rates like the England figures above. The source also reports frequency patterns among people who undertook formal volunteering: 32% of formal volunteers aged 60 and over said they volunteered about once a week, compared with 24% of those aged 16–34. At the other end of the reported frequency categories, 37% of formal volunteers aged 16–34 volunteered less than once a month, compared with 20% of those aged 60 and over. The denominator here is formal volunteers in the age group, not all respondents in that age group.
The report describes differences in the types of organizations supported by formal volunteers. Among formal volunteers aged 16–34, 22% supported physical activity, sport and exercise organizations, compared with 13% of those aged 60 and over. The same younger group had 22% supporting youth or children’s activities outside school, compared with 9% among ages 60 and over. For local community or neighbourhood organizations, the ordering was reversed: 36% of formal volunteers aged 60 and over supported them, compared with 17% of those aged 16–34.
These category figures add detail to the age profile: the survey’s patterns include differences in volunteering frequency and organization type, as well as differences in whether respondents volunteered at all. They do not establish why people chose particular activities. Also, the type percentages are among respondents reporting formal volunteering, while the annual participation percentages use the broader respondent age groups. Keeping those populations separate avoids reading activity preferences as population-wide participation rates. Source: Scottish Household Survey Statistics 2025, “Volunteering,” age narrative and Tables 2, 13, 34 and 44