ZOOM: Volunteering in Belgium

What is the extent of volunteering in Belgium? How many people are concerned? What is the profile of the men and women who choose to get involved in voluntary activities? At the request of the King Baudouin Foundation, researchers from the University of Ghent (UGent) conducted a study on the importance of volunteering in Belgium. They reached the important conclusion that voluntary engagement of citizens is crucially important for our society. Volunteers detect unnoticed needs in society and try to do something about them. They are essential components of our democracies and they develop outside of the contingencies of profitability. Volunteering not only benefits society, it is also beneficial to those who volunteer: volunteers feel useful and they share and/or develop their skills and social aptitudes. For all of these reasons, the Foundation supports volunteers and closely monitors the development of the voluntary sector, in which the great majority of them are active. This study is based on the results of the 2019 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Federal Belgian Economics Service (SPF Economie). It is the second study on volunteering in Belgium, the first having been carried out in 2014. However, due to fundamental changes in the research methodology, the results of the 2014 and 2019 surveys cannot be compared.