2914.0.55.002 - 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Media Releases and Fact Sheets, 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/06/2007  First Issue
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MEDIA FACT SHEET
June 27, 2007
Embargoed 9.30 am (AEST)
70/2007
One in five Australians engages in voluntary work: Census

  • Almost one in five, or 18% of Australians 15 years of age and over reported that they had done voluntary work in the year before the 2006 Census. Of those, 57% were female and 43% were male.
  • Canberra was the capital city with the highest proportion of people doing voluntary work (22.3%). Sydney and Perth had the lowest proportions of people volunteering (14.8% and 15.1% respectively).
  • Western Australia was the state with the lowest proportion of volunteers (16.8%).

Some interesting aspects of the response:
  • Those born in North America, including the United States and Canada, were most likely to be volunteers in the Australian Community (29.9%), followed by those born in Micronesia and Melanesia (21.8%). Australian-born came in third at 20.6%.
  • Those born in South Eastern Europe were least likely to be volunteers (6.4%).
  • More comprehensive statistics on voluntary work can be found in Voluntary Work, Australia 2006 (ABS cat. no. 4441.0).

NB: The figures in this fact sheet exclude overseas visitors. Where an answer to a question has not been provided (i.e. not stated) these occurrences form a separate category in the data and therefore some percentages do not total to 100%.

Source: ABS 2006 Census.


Table 1. 2006 Census: Volunteers in Capital cities(a)
Sydney
Melbourne
Brisbane
Adelaide
Perth
Hobart
Darwin
Canberra
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Not a volunteer
74.6
74.8
73.7
74.5
75.4
71.9
68.7
71.0
Volunteer
14.8
15.6
17.6
17.8
15.1
19.4
17.5
22.3
Not stated
10.6
9.6
8.7
7.7
9.4
8.7
13.7
6.7
(a) Capital City Statistical Division.

Table 2. 2006 Census: Volunteers in States and Territories
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Not a volunteer
73.0
72.9
71.8
71.8
73.2
71.6
68.2
70.9
72.6
Volunteer
17.1
17.8
18.5
20.3
16.9
20.0
17.6
22.3
17.9
Not stated
9.9
9.3
9.7
7.8
10.0
8.4
14.2
6.8
9.5