29,840 persons do voluntary work

The National Statistics Office said that in 2011, around 8% of persons aged 12 and over were doing some form of voluntary work.

Out of the total population of persons aged 12 and over, around 6%, or 19,880, were members in a voluntary organisation. Of these, 58% were paying members.

Figures derived from the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey showed that the largest share of these persons, 37%, were aged between 25 and 49, followed by those in the 50-64 age bracket, at 30%.

Just over 80% of voluntary workers were engaged equally between organisations providing institutional care, organisations involved in religious activities and organisations engaged in other social activities.

36% of those doing voluntary work within organisations said they had a supporting role, while 30% held an administrative role.

Around 41% of those volunteering had been doing this unpaid work for more than 10 years, as opposed to a third that had been offering their help freely for less than 5 years.

Nearly half these volunteers said they felt it was their moral duty to carry out voluntary work. Another 20% said they considered their voluntary work as recreation and that it helped them to meet new people.

In a typical month, a quarter of the persons engaged in voluntary work spent around 10-19 hours doing this type of work, whereas a third spent less than 10 hours.

Results also reveal that, at 28 hours per month, men spend an average of 8 more hours per month doing voluntary work than women.

When compared to the previous year, retired and unemployed persons increased their participation in voluntary work to 33 and 29 hours per month respectively.

On the other hand, the number of hours spent by persons who were also engaged in paid work decreased to 23 hours per month.