This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022.
In Census 2022, 15% of Irish citizens and 11% of non-Irish citizens volunteered.
Male Irish citizens primarily volunteered in sporting organisations (almost 180,000); a further 90,178 volunteered in their community.
Almost 109,000 Irish females volunteered in the community, making it the most popular voluntary activity.
A further 99,825 female Irish citizens volunteered in social or charitable organisations.
Over a fifth of citizens of African countries (7,442 people) were involved in at least one voluntary activity.
Approximately half of these were involved in a religious or church group.
One in five American citizens volunteered in 2022, primarily in social or charitable organisations and in their community.
The rate of volunteering among UK citizens was the same as for Irish citizens (15%).
UK citizens showed similar proportions of volunteering across social or charitable organisations, in the community and in sporting organisations.
Nearly 600,000 people who identified their ethnic group/background as White Irish volunteered in at least one activity in 2022.
There were slightly more male volunteers (307,730) than females (284,531) among the White Irish ethnic group.
Volunteering in a sporting organisation was the most popular activity among White Irish volunteers.
At 27%, the highest rate of volunteering recorded among the ethnic groups captured in Census 2022 was for people who identified as Black or Black Irish – African.
Nearly two-thirds of Black or Black Irish – African volunteers were involved with a religious group or church.
Just over 2,500 people who identified as Arab volunteered in at least one activity, almost half of whom (1,179 people) volunteered in the community.
At 15%, the rate of volunteering among people who identified as Roman Catholic was similar to the overall volunteering rate of 14% for the population.
Over 93,000 people (12%) who reported having no religion volunteered in at least one activity in 2022.
The second largest religious group recorded in Census 2022 was Church of Ireland or England, Anglican and Episcopalian; just under one-fifth (18%) in this group volunteered in at least one activity (22,861).
Religious groupings with the highest proportions of volunteers included Jehovah’s Witnesses (67%) and Evangelicals (45%).
Among Jehovah’s Witnesses, 97% of volunteers (4,217 people) were involved in a religious group or church.
People who described their religion as Evangelical (90%), Apostolic/Pentecostal (87%), Born-Again Christian (87%) and Baptist (82%) also recorded high rates of volunteering in a religious group or church.
Among Roman Catholic volunteers, 46% helped in a sporting organisation and 16% in a religious group or church.
The term disability refers to people who experienced long-lasting conditions or difficulties. In Census 2022, the two questions on long-lasting conditions and difficulties were revised. More information is provided in the Background Notes. In Census 2022, a total of 1,109,557 people reported experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent.
Some 15% of people who reported at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent (just over 160,000 people) were engaged in at least one voluntary activity.
This was lower than the proportion of people in the population who reported at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent (22%).
There were slightly more female (82,888) than male (78,873) volunteers who reported a long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent.
Over two-thirds (70%) of all volunteers experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent volunteered in their community (56,994) or a social or charitable organisation (56,823).
Volunteering in a sporting organisation was the most common activity among male volunteers who experienced at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent (29,982).
Female volunteers experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent were most likely to volunteer in a social or charitable organisation (41%) and in the community (37%).
Almost one in five people aged between 45 and 64 years who reported a long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent (58,009) were involved in at least one voluntary activity.
Some 10% of people who reported experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to a great extent were involved in voluntary activities.
The number of people providing regular unpaid care was 299,128 in 2022. Of these, almost 90,000 (30%) volunteered in at least one activity.
At 30%, the rate of volunteering among carers was more than twice that of the general population (14%).
Almost 22,000 female carers volunteered in their community and a further 20,255 were involved in a social or charitable organisation.
Volunteering in a sporting organisation was the most common activity among male carers who volunteered (46% of male carer volunteers).
Just over one-third of male carers who volunteered were involved in their community (13,109 people).
In 2022, more than half of carers (55%) involved in one or more voluntary activities provided up to 14 hours of unpaid help per week, a further 22% (19,462 people) provided 43 or more hours of unpaid help per week.
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