According to the Global Civil Society – An Overview Report (Salamon et al., 2003; 1995 data), the non-profit sector includes the equivalent of 978,100 FTE volunteers; according to the Federal Minister for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, 2006), and as reported by the Study on Practices and Policies in the Social Enterprise Sector in Europe (KMU Forschung Austria, 2007), in Germany there are approximately 17 million volunteers.
The region with the highest percentage of people from 14-years old on engaged in volunteer works is Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of Germany, with 42% of the population committed in some activities for free. The two regions with the lowest citizens’ engagement are instead Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, with a 30% of the population from 14-years old on who actually gives its time as volunteer.
In general, population from the old regions (that is: the regions that belonged to the west part of Germany before the reunification in 1989) is more engaged in volunteer activities than people from the new regions that belonged to East Germany.
According to the Freiwilliges Engagement in Deutschland 1999-2004 (Volunteer Engagement in Germany 1999-2004), published in 2005 by the Bundesministerium fuer Familie, Senioren, Frauen and Jugend, the percentage of people over 14 working as volunteers amounts to 36%, of which 42% is committed with more than one volunteer activity.
The percentage of men who make volunteer works is 39% of the whole over 14 population; women are instead less engaged, and they are committed in free works for 37%.
Moreover, the Global Civil Society – An Overview Report (Salamon et al., 2003; 1995 data) claims that the volunteer share of civil society organization workforce is 40.4%. Another important figure delivered by this study is that 5.9 is the percentage of the whole workforce active in the third sector, which is made up for 2.3% of volunteers.
The sector where volunteers are more engaged is “Culture”; the field with fewer volunteer engagement is instead the education sector.
