Profile: China - Volunteerism

According to a 2001 survey, an estimated 769.57 million Chinese aged 18 and older volunteered their time, skill and energy to human development that year. These volunteers contributed an average of 77 hours each.

Other findings include:

• 51.3% were one-time volunteers, while only 10.9% or about 83.9 million were frequent volunteers.
• Volunteering participation rate in rural areas (85.7%) was a bit higher than in urban areas (84.5%), but the average annual volunteer hours were lower in rural areas (62 hours).
• The rate of volunteering was higher for youth (90.6% for those aged 18 to 24 and 86.4% for those aged 25 to 34) and those in their mid-adult ages (85.2% for those aged 35 to 44) than it was for other age groups.
• The number of women involved in volunteering (85.4% of the whole women) was slightly higher than men (85.2%). However, men, on an average volunteered more time than women: 94 hours per year as opposed to 61 hours for women.
• Volunteer rates and volunteer hours generally increased with level of education. Chinese people with higher education levels tended to volunteer more hours, and those with certificates of high schools, universities and graduate schools contributed the most.
• The fields with the largest shares of volunteering are helping others, public welfare, and charity.
• Influence by leadership of working units is the top reason for volunteering in China. Over 81.3% of China's volunteers, approximately 625.6 million, said they were required to do so by the leadership of their units or government agencies.
• Self-motivation is a far second (16.3%), invitation by friends third (11.5%), and being asked by family members last (4.0%).
• The volunteering rate among Chinese with religious affiliations (88.0%) is not much higher than those who had none (85.1%). However, the volunteering rate among those with a political background like members of the Chinese Communist Party (90.2%) or the Chinese Communist Youth League (91.1%) were significantly more likely to volunteer than those who had no political background (78.2%).
• The reason most frequently given by respondents who did not volunteer their time was more was not being organizationally asked (26.1%). Not enough spare time was the second most frequently given response (16.9%) and the lack of information on how to be involved was the third (14%).
• The respondents identified the lack of recognition (71.5%), lack of funds (63.4%), and inadequate management (57.0%) as hindrances to volunteering. Half of the respondents also pointed out that there was a need for adequate laws and regulations to promote and guarantee their volunteering.