The decline of formal volunteering in Australia (2001–2020): Insights from the HILDA Survey

Key insights

• Volunteering participation in Australia generally declined from 2001 to 2020, corroborating analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ General Social Survey by Volunteering Australia.
• These declines in participation were most noticeable among Australians aged 45–60, women, and those without a university degree.
• Volunteers’ hours of unpaid work per week, however, were either stable or increasing with some fluctuations across the sample or sub-samples.
• Quantitative evidence also suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the provision of volunteer work in Australia.