According to the Plate-forme francophone du Volontariat, volunteers are generally defined as those providing services to others or for the collective interest, without any reward in return, and as part of a structure that goes beyond the simple mutual family or friends (source: www.ces-ulg.be; the 3rd
July 2005’s Law on the Status of the Volunteer entered into force on 6 February 2006).
According to the 2007 EESC Report, Belgian FTE volunteers amount to 99,100 units, representing 2.3 % of the total economically active population (aged between 14 and 65 years old; 1995 data). According to existing and more updated studies, there were 1,500,000 volunteers in Belgium for about 150 000 FTE jobs (approximately 5% of employment).
The 32% of the adult population is engaged in some kind of volunteer activity (1999-2001 data).
According to the Centre d’Economie Sociale, HEC – ULg, men, in average, volunteer more than women; the typical volunteer, moreover, usually presents a higher education level (secondary school or university) and he/she usually earns above the average; his/her status is usually of an active (part-time or full-time) person or, in a small percentage, of pensioner; in addition, there is a positive correlation between the engagement in volunteering activities and the fact that a family member is already a volunteer. Ambiguous data are instead delivered as far as the age of the typical volunteer is concerned.
According to the same source (www.ces-ulg.be), in 2001 volunteers were mostly engaged in culture, sports and entertainment (69.7%); they were equivalent to 76,000 FTE employees, and they would have cost nearly 2,400 million €: it would have meant – approximately – a 20% increase in the percentage of the third sector on GDP.
|
Branches |
Nombre de bénévoles |
ETP bénévoles |
ETP bénévoles (en %) |
Imputation monétaire (milliers d’euros) |
|
1-2.Agric/industrie/services |
347 968 |
12 252 |
16,1% |
358 699 |
|
3. Education |
10 719 |
394 |
0,5% |
15 462 |
|
4. Services de santé |
11 406 |
1 159 |
1,5% |
48 814 |
|
5. Action sociale |
176 231 |
8 863 |
11,6% |
289 159 |
|
6. Défense des droits |
15 467 |
463 |
0,6% |
17 389 |
|
7. Culture, sports et loisirs |
604 357 |
53 128 |
69,7% |
1 666 787 |
|
Total |
1 166 147 |
76 259 |
100,0% |
2 396 310 |
Source : Centre d’Economie Sociale. Ces chiffres sont repris par l’Institut des Comptes Nationaux, Le compte satellite des institutions sans but lucratif – 2000 à 2001, Banque nationale de Belgique, Bruxelles, 2004.
