In 2021, four out of every ten young people in the Basque Country under the age of 30 say that they do or have done voluntary work
Young people in the Basque Country under 30 were asked in 2021 about their participation in volunteering activities. 11.5% responded that they are currently volunteering, at almost the same rate as in 2016. However, if we look at the percentage of those who say they have done so in the past, the figure for 2021 is significantly higher than in previous years. This may be related to the initiatives, whether organised and/or spontaneous, that emerged in the first weeks of the 2020 lockdown, many of which involved young people.
Therefore, we can conclude that the evolution of the number of young people who have carried out voluntary work has been highly positive.
If we look at the percentage of young people who say that they are currently volunteering, this figure is slightly higher among women (12.3%) than among men (10.7%).
Young people aged 20 to 24 show the highest rate (14.9%). Among 15 to 19 year olds, the percentage of those currently volunteering stands at 10.2%, while among 25 to 29 year olds, it is the lowest of the three five-year age groups surveyed (9.5%).
The predominant field of action is related to children or youth, as 39.0% of those currently volunteering do so in these fields.
In addition, 15.5% say that they volunteer for activities related to the eradication of poverty, development cooperation, help for immigrants or refugees, etc. Another 7.8% volunteer in the fields of culture and/or artistic or cultural heritage, another 6.9% in the field of ecology and the environment, 6.6% in the field of disability, 5.7% in the field of the elderly and the rest, at lower percentages, in other fields, such as health, addictions or emergencies.
These data are a preview of the report "Basque Youth 2020/2021". The Basque Youth Observatory publishes the Basque Youth reports every four years; however, in the 2020 edition, due to the situation generated by the Covid19 pandemic, some questions, such as those related to volunteering, were omitted and asked in a subsequent survey in 2021. The report, which is currently being prepared, will include data collected in the 2020 and 2021 surveys.
