Half of Sweden volunteers. A quarter of the volunteers carry the hours.

Seven Swedish surveys since 1992 put volunteering at 48–53 percent every time. The 2024 report shows a quarter of volunteers doing most of the hours: 44 a month against 2.

Every few years since 1992, a research centre in Stockholm asks a random slice of the Swedish population the same question: have you done any unpaid work for an organisation in the past twelve months? The seventh round went out in 2024. The answer came back where it always does. About 52 percent said yes.

The report that followed, published in February 2025 by Marie Cederschiöld University (the former Ersta Sköndal Bräcke), carries a title that says more than the headline number: Många bidrar, få orkar bära. Many contribute. Few can carry the weight.

Thirty-two years, five percentage points

The share of Swedes who volunteer has stayed between 48 and 53 percent across all seven surveys. The series opened at 48 in 1992, dipped back to 48 in 2009, peaked at 53 in 2014 and now sits at 52.

There is no trend in those numbers, just a floor and a ceiling. A banking crisis, a pandemic and the smartphone all happened inside that window, and the line did not notice. The authors, Erik Lundberg, Ebba Henrekson and Johan von Essen, put it bluntly in a chapter heading. It is the stability that needs explaining, not the change.

Hours per month are noisier, but they barely move either. The average volunteer gave 13 hours a month in 1992, 18 in 2019, 15 in 2024. The youngest group, 16 to 24, reported 9 hours in 1992 and 20 in both 2019 and 2024, with a swing up to 21 in 2005 in between. Whatever is being said about young people and commitment, the table does not agree.

Where the title comes from

The average is the least interesting number in the report. What matters is the spread behind it.

The researchers split everyone who volunteers into four equal groups by monthly hours. The bottom quarter averages 2 hours a month. The next quarter, just under 6. The third, 13 hours, with a median of 12. The top quarter averages 44 hours a month, median 36, with a standard deviation so wide (29 hours) that some people in it are effectively working a second job for nothing.

So "half the country volunteers" is true, and tells you almost nothing. Half the country does something. One quarter of that half does most of it. Roughly one Swede in eight is holding up the structures that the other three quarters of volunteers drop into for a few hours a month, two for some, a dozen for others.

That eighth is also the group most exposed to what we wrote about last year: the volunteer who stops showing up. The report notes a "not insignificant share" of active volunteers who report dissatisfaction or ambivalence about the work. Young people are less positive about volunteering than older people, who more often take it as a given.

Who ends up in the half

Education, a steady income from work or pension, and having children all raise the odds of volunteering. Married people with children under 18: 66 percent volunteer. Married without children: 51. The report's own reading is that volunteering tracks resources and networks, which is the opposite of what the word "charity" suggests. You volunteer because your child plays football and the club needs a treasurer. You volunteer because you have the evening free and a car.

Among people who are ill, unemployed, on parental leave or without any income, the share drops to 35 percent. Inside that group the report finds 40 percent of the women volunteering against 30 percent of the men. It is a small and mixed group, so the gender gap there should be read with some care. The 35 is the number to remember.

One caveat the authors state themselves

In 1992, 72 percent of the people sampled answered the survey. In 2024, out of 8 578 people drawn from the population register, 2 507 answered, which is 29 percent. The researchers weight for income, education and other register data from Statistics Sweden, and they are open that the lowest income quarter responded at 18.7 percent against 33.5 percent for the top two. People who fill in a long questionnaire about civic engagement are plausibly more engaged than people who bin it. The 52 percent may be a little generous. The stability across 32 years is harder to explain away, because the drop in response rates has been gradual while the volunteering share has not moved.

What this looks like on a map

Good People Map records deeds rather than hours. Someone shovelling a neighbour's path once in January shows up the same as someone running a Monday language café for the ninth year. The Swedish data says those two people are both real, both counted in the 52 percent, and that the second one is scarce. If you know one, don't thank them. Take one of their Mondays.

Sources

Lundberg, E., Henrekson, E. & von Essen, J. (2025). Många bidrar, få orkar bära: Ideellt arbete i Sverige 1992–2024. Marie Cederschiöld högskola, Arbetsrapportserie nr 123, Stockholm, February 2025. mchs.diva-portal.org (shares per survey year p. 17–21, Table 2 hours per month, quartiles p. 30–31, background factors ch. 3, method appendix 1).
von Essen, J. & Svedberg, L. (eds.) (2020). Medborgerligt engagemang i Sverige 1992–2019. Ersta Sköndal Bräcke högskola. esh.diva-portal.org (51 percent in 2019).
Volontärbyrån (2025). Ny rapport: Ideellt arbete i Sverige 1992–2024. volontarbyran.org