PHOTO – Tidy Towns volunteeers in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Ireland has a very high proportion of people engaged in voluntary activity, especially in the west of the country.
The country is regularly ranked alongside Denmark, Sweden, and Finland for having the highest participation rates in volunteering among EU countries.
Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that volunteering continues to see excellent levels of participation and interest across the country.
It found that almost 655,000 people aged 15-74 were engaged in at least one voluntary activity in 2025. That represents over 16% of the population. Here is the regional breakdown:
Those in the West (Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) were the most likely to be involved in a voluntary activity with almost one in five (19.4%) saying they volunteered.
This was followed by the Mid-East region (18.4%) and the Midlands (17.1%).
The Border (14.0%) region had the lowest proportion of volunteers followed by Dublin (14.1%) and the Mid-West (15.3%).
It is estimated that an amazing 7.5 million hours were volunteered per month.
One of the arguments advanced for remote working is that it allows people time to become involved in their community, and the CSO figures appear to support that line of thinking.
About one in five of those who usually work from home (19.0%) or sometimes work from home (20.8%) said they volunteered compared to 14.6% of those who never work from home.
Almost one in ten (9.5%) of those who sometimes work from home said they volunteered with a sporting organisation, compared to 7.2% of those who usually work from home and 6.2% of those who never work from home.
Those who occasionally worked from home were also more likely to volunteer with a political or community organisation while those that usually worked from home were more likely to volunteer in a social or charity as well as a religious or church group.
It is important to bear in mind that income level and time availability are factors that determine people’s availability to volunteer.
From the census we see that self-employed people (19.1%) were more likely to volunteer in one or more activities compared to employees (16.1%).
CSO statistician Colin Hanley, said: “The estimated number of people aged 15-74 who volunteered in Q2 2025 was 654,400, or 16.1%. The largest number of volunteers were involved in a sporting organisation with 261,000 persons, or 6.4%. This was followed by political or community organisations (184,100 people) and social or charity organisations (125,900 people).
“There were more women (331,100) volunteering than men (323,300) overall. However, more men volunteered in sporting organisations while more women volunteered in all other voluntary activities.”
Irish Volunteering in Numbers and Facts
■ 654,400 – The number of people aged 15-74 involved in at least one voluntary activity in Q2 2025.
■ 7.5 million -The amount of hours volunteered per month.
■ 17.1% The percentage of people with children aged under 15 engaged in volunteerism.
■ Residents of the West of Ireland are most likely to volunteer.
