Italy: volunteer workforce

According to the ISTAT census on non profit organisations, in 1999, about 4 million people were involved in the non profit sector, of this more than 3 million were volunteers, 100,000 religious and 30,000 conscientious objectors. 80.2% of the non profit organisations declare to use volunteer workforce as the only type of human resources available.

To see more details about the paid work force in other type of non profit organisations such as social cooperatives, foundations and voluntary organisations click here.

The National Civil Service

Dedicate one-year time to a social cause receiving a reimbursement of about 400 Euros monthly, is the most common type of volunteering chosen by young Italians. It is called Voluntary National Civil Service and it starts to become popular between Italians, when it was approved as a national programme only based on volunteers’ resources in 2001.

About 197,481 of people between 18 and 28 years old have done it, with an increase of about 24% in seven years. According to the data published by the National Office for Civil Service in 2007 about 43 thousands of young Italians participate to the programme, of which 70% are female and only 30% men. More than 60% of volunteers are between 21 to 26 years with a high school diploma.