Statistics

Key statistics about volunteering in New Zealand.

We have collated some highlights from the government statistics about volunteering in New Zealand. We also provide the volunteering indicators and measures being tracked by government.

‍

>> Stats NZ 2023 General Social Survey (Wellbeing statistics update March 2025)

Over half of New Zealanders (53.0%) volunteered over the previous four weeks. For those that volunteered, 27.6% volunteered through an organisation and 40.8% volunteered directly for another person.
20.3% of volunteers contributed over 25 hours over the previous 4 weeks.  32.5% of volunteers contributed less than 5 hours over the previous 4 weeks – the most common number of hours committed to volunteering.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

Volunteers are most likely to be: aged between 45 and 64, female, European or Māori, have a personal income of £70,001 or more, and own their own home.

‍

Volunteers provide 231 million hours of formal volunteer labour annually.  
At the living wage ($27.80/hr) this  is valued at $6.4 billion annually
Community organisations are 89% volunteer run. Only 3.5% have more than 5 employees.
Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account 2018

‍

Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account 2018

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

Volunteering indicators and measures

There are a number of volunteering indicators and measures being tracked by government.

Living standards framework
Treasury

Treasury’s Living Standards Framework Dashboard tracks three indicators and measures related to volunteering. You can monitor progress against the Dashboard. Three key indicators related to volunteering are:

  • Volunteering: Measured by tracking the percentage of adults who reported having done voluntary work in the previous four weeks (New Zealand General Social Survey – Stats NZ)
  • Involvement in the community by youth: Tracking the proportion of young people who report helping others in the neighbourhood or community (eg, helping out on the marae or at church or belonging to a volunteer organisation). (WhatAboutMe survey).
  • Non-profit operating surplus: Measured by operating surplus for the non-profit sector as a proportion of income (Non-profit institutions satellite account Stats NZ)

Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa – Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand (2020).

Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa – Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand collates wellbeing data for New Zealanders. One of the indicators tracked is Volunteering. This indicator measures the percentage of people aged 15 years and over who reported having done voluntary work for at least one organisation or directly for a person from another household in the previous four weeks.