CSO figures show sporting organisation get largest number of volunteers

Leitrim has the highest rate of volunteers in the country at 18 per cent of its population, while Dublin city and south Co Dublin has the joint lowest at 11 per cent, according to new Census data.

On Thursday the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published data on volunteering in Ireland, which the office described as “integral to a huge range of organisations and activities which people in every town, village, city and county in Ireland participate in and rely on every day”.

Overall it found that in April 2022, more than 700,000 people, or about 14 per cent of the population, regularly engaged in helping or voluntary work.

The largest number of volunteers were involved in a sporting organisation, at almost 290,000 people, or 6 per cent of the population. The next most common areas where people volunteered were in their community or in a social or charitable organisation.

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Men were most likely to volunteer in a sporting organisation, while women were more likely to volunteer in their community.

The proportion of people engaged in helping or voluntary work increased with age, with over one-third (38 per cent) of all volunteers being aged between 45 and 64 years. Among younger people, 3 per cent of children under the age of 15 (over 30,000 people) volunteered in at least one activity.

CSO statistician Sheelagh Bonham said sporting groups had 50 per cent more volunteers in 2022 than in 2006, while religious or church groups had 13 per cent fewer volunteers.

“County populations volunteering with a sporting organisation ranged from 3 per cent in Dublin city to 7 per cent in Galway county,” she said. At 4 per cent Cavan had the highest proportion of any county’s population volunteering in a religious organisation, while volunteering for a social or charitable organisation was highest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (5 per cent).”

Volunteering levels also differed depending on a person’s marital status, the CSO data found. More than one in five married people (21 per cent) volunteered in at least one voluntary activity, with the rate being higher among men (23 per cent) than women (19 per cent).

“The proportion of single people who volunteered was 9 per cent. Among single males, 4 per cent (61,039) volunteered in a sporting organisation, making it the most popular voluntary activity, followed by volunteering in the community at 2 per cent,” Ms Bonham said.

“Volunteering for a social or charitable organisation was most popular with single women at 3 per cent. In more than one-fifth of families with children, at least one family member was involved in a voluntary activity, while in 18 per cent of families without children at least one person volunteered in at least one activity. The most common type of voluntary activity among families with children was volunteering in a sporting organisation.”

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