Many acts that sustain communities don’t look like “volunteering” at first glance: doing groceries for an elderly neighbour, babysitting a friend’s child, or helping fix a neighbour’s roof. Few people who help in this way would describe themselves as volunteers. And yet, this kind of direct, person-to-person help accounts for nearly 70 per cent of all volunteer activity worldwide.
Despite being the most common form of volunteering, direct volunteering remains under-researched and poorly understood, especially in low- and middle-income countries. A new study by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the ILO sheds light on this invisible workforce, drawing on survey data from eight countries: Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Jordan, Nigeria, and Uganda.
Volunteering rates vary widely across countries
Volunteer participation varied significantly across the eight countries, from under 30 per cent in Jordan to nearly 80 per cent in Nigeria. The African countries studied (Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda) showed the highest rates of volunteering, while Latin American (Bolivia) and Arab states (Iraq, Jordan) had the lowest. Asian countries (China and India) landed in the middle.
Across all countries, a consistent pattern emerged: most volunteers were engaged in direct, one-on-one help. In Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda, about 70 to 80 per cent of volunteers provided this kind of person-to-person support. In India, the figure was even higher, at around 90 per cent.
Overall volunteering rates were similar between men and women, but the types of activities they engaged in differed, as explored below.
How age and sex affect patterns
Young people were more likely to volunteer than older adults, especially in direct roles. Participation generally declined with age, particularly among men.
Women’s participation followed a U-shaped pattern: volunteering dipped among those aged 35–44 and rose again for women over 45. This midlife decline likely reflects increased caregiving responsibilities during those years, such as raising children or caring for elderly relatives.
In contrast, organization-based volunteering remained relatively stable across age groups and genders.
Does where you live have an impact?
On average, direct volunteering was slightly more common in rural areas than in urban ones. In communities with limited access to public services or infrastructure, people often rely more on each other for support. But local culture and social norms also influence volunteering behaviours.
In African countries, direct volunteering often fills the gap left by underdeveloped formal services—especially in rural areas. That said, Ethiopia stood out as an exception. In China and India, both direct and organization-based volunteering were more prevalent in urban areas.
The role of income and education
The relationship between income and direct volunteering varied by country. In Ethiopia and the Arab states (Iraq and Jordan), higher-income households reported lower rates of direct volunteering. In the other countries, people from middle- and high-income families were more likely to volunteer directly than those from lower-income backgrounds.
Organization-based volunteering, on the other hand, consistently rose with income. Across all eight countries, about 13 per cent of people in the lowest income group volunteered with organizations, compared to 17 per cent of the middle-income group and 22 per cent of the highest-income group. A similar trend held for education: people with higher levels of education were more likely to engage in formal volunteering, while direct volunteering showed more variation.
What direct volunteers do and what shapes their experience
Direct volunteering mostly involves care activities—for both men and women—including caring for people or animals, teaching, and healthcare. For many volunteers, this work is part of a community safety net: helping each other “get by” in daily life rather than a step toward personal advancement (“getting on”).
In both direct and organization-based volunteering, the main motivation was to help others. Some gender differences emerged: women were more likely to take on caregiving roles, while men more often volunteered for community causes such as environmental conservation, religious activities, tech support, disaster response, and sports.
Direct volunteers often cited lack of time and competing responsibilities as key barriers to participation. And while organization-based volunteers may sometimes receive stipends or reimbursements, direct volunteers typically bear their own costs.
Flexibility was important: volunteers preferred opportunities that aligned with their interests, fit their schedules, and were close to home.
Conclusion
This blog draws on a forthcoming UNV-ILO report and adds to the still-limited body of research on direct volunteering, which has mostly focused on high-income countries. Community-based, informal help remains under-acknowledged, partly because it doesn’t match familiar images of “volunteering.”
Although both direct and organization-based volunteering are driven by the desire to help, they differ in how people participate, what kinds of activities they do, and what they get out of it. Understanding these differences is essential to recognizing the full range of human contributions that sustain communities worldwide.
Stay tuned for the full report, where we’ll dig even deeper into these findings.
Definitions and data sources
Defining volunteer work
According to the Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization, adopted at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), volunteer work is non-compulsory work performed for others without pay. Specifically:
- Work refers to any production of goods or provision of services.
- Non-compulsory means participation is voluntary, without civil, legal, or administrative obligation.
- Others includes organizations (formal or informal) and individuals outside the volunteer’s household or family.
- Without pay means there is no expectation of payment in cash or in kind for the time or work contributed. Reimbursements (e.g. transport, meals) and small stipends are allowed, but stipends exceeding one-third of local wages classify the activity as paid work.
To count as volunteer work in official statistics, individuals must engage in such activities for at least one hour during a four-week reference period.
Volunteering, more broadly, includes a range of unpaid, freely chosen activities done for the public good. The United Nations defines it as “a wide range of activities, including traditional forms of mutual aid and self-help, formal service delivery and other forms of civic participation, undertaken of free will, for the general public good and where monetary reward is not the principal motivating factor.” For example, giving blood without payment is considered a voluntary activity but not classified as volunteer work.
As of 2023, volunteer work is classified using two sets of binary distinctions:
- Direct vs. Organization-based
- Direct volunteer work is done for individuals or households without an intermediary.
- Organization-based volunteer work involves an intermediary organization (whether formal or informal).
- Formal vs. Informal
- Formal volunteer work is carried out through formal institutions or structures.
- Informal volunteer work happens through informal arrangements or directly within communities on a person-to-person basis.
Survey Methodology
This analysis draws on a harmonized and culturally adapted questionnaire based on the ILO’s official volunteer work survey module. The survey captured the prevalence, nature, and structure of volunteer activity over a 30-day reference period. It also included two questions on motivations and barriers to volunteering. Data were collected via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) from nationally representative samples of 1,000 respondents per country. Samples were stratified by sex, age, and subnational geography. Since the survey was conducted by telephone, populations with limited phone access may be under-represented. Fieldwork took place between March and May 2025.
