Quarter do unpaid volunteer work

Just under a quarter of the population takes part in unpaid charitable work, figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today show.

The figures also show almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of people aged 16 and over took part in at least one group activity and 79 per cent felt most of the time people in their neighbourhood try to be helpful.

TOf the 24 per cent of the population participating in informal, unpaid charitable work, women (28 per cent) were more likely than men (21 per cent) to do so.

The figures come from the report Community Involvement and Social Networks in Ireland 2006,which looks at social capital at a neighbourhood level. It is broken down into three parts; Community Involvement, Social Networks and Support,and Neighbourhood and Trust.

The chapter Community Involvementfound that sports groups were the most popular voluntary group with 11 per cent of people participating. Political groups were the least popular, with only 1 per cent of the population reporting involvement.

The figures show men (16 per cent) were more likely to participate in sports groups than women (6 per cent) however, women reported marginally higher participation levels in the majority of other groups.

Although people living in the Dublin region were the least likely to participate in community groups (21 per cent) they were the most likely to “take action to solve a problem” (13 per cent). The Midland region had the most people participating in community groups (36 per cent) while only 6 per cent of people in the South East and South West regions said they would take action to solve a problem.

The report also found community involvement to be linked with health as people who had the lowest self perceived health status also reported the lowest levels of involvement in community (12 per cent) and civic (8 per cent) activities.

The figures for Social Networks and Supportshowed over two-thirds (67 per cent) of the population aged 15 and over reported seeing relatives and 80 per cent reported seeing friends, daily or at least once a week.

Geographically the rates of weekly contact with relatives and friends were comparable however, the Dublin region revealed a lower rate of contact with neighbours (70 per cent) than all other regions. The South East had the highest with 85 per cent of people speaking to their neighbours at least once a week.

Just over half of the population aged 15 and over reported having at least six people whom they could turn to in time of need. Only 2 per cent said they had nobody to ask for help.

Those in the oldest age group (over 75 years), had the lowest levels of support, with 29 per cent reporting that they had fewer than three people whom they could call on in a time of need. The youngest age group (15-24 years) had the largest network of social support with 60 per cent reporting that they had six or more people to contact in a time of need.

The Neighbourhood and Trustsection revealed that 85 per cent of respondents said they felt that by working together, people in their neighbourhood can influence decisions that affect them. Over two-thirds (69 per cent) reported a very strong or strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhood.

Just under two thirds of respondents (62 per cent) said that in general most people can be trusted. The South East region was the least trusting, with 57 per cent of respondents saying that most people can be trusted, compared to 68 per cent in the Midland region.

Across regions Dublin had the lowest percentage of persons with a strong or very strong sense of belonging (62 per cent), and also the lowest percentage for believing that most people are helpful (73 per cent). The Mid West reported the highest percentage in both categories – 76 per cent and 83 per cent respectively.