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1. Main facts and figures
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from 2016 to 2017, a quarter of Black respondents took part in regular formal volunteering, a similar percentage to White respondents
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those of Asian and Mixed ethnicity were less likely to volunteer at least once a month on a formal basis
Things you need to know
The Community Life Survey (previously the Citizenship Survey) is a ‘sample survey’ – it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach ‘findings’) about the total population.
Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty, as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.
The commentary only refers to differences between groups where they are ‘statistically significant’. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.
Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.
Results by ethnic group are available in the reference tables of the latest Community Life Survey publication.
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 and over who had volunteered formally at least once a month over the last 12 months, broken down by ethnicity.
Formal volunteering means providing unpaid help through groups, clubs or other organisations.
This data doesn't include informal volunteering like doing unpaid work for friends or family.
The ethnic categories used in this data
For this data, the number of people surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions about specific ethnic categories. Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 5 broad groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Mixed
- White
- Other
2. Regular formal volunteering by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Number of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| All | 22 | 10,256 |
| Asian | 17 | 1,111 |
| Black | 25 | 360 |
| Mixed | 16 | 467 |
| White | 23 | 8,022 |
| Other | 23 | 163 |
Download table data for ‘Regular formal volunteering by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Regular formal volunteering by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Volunteering Regular formal volunteering by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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25% of Black respondents took part in regular formal volunteering, a similar percentage to White respondents and those from the Other ethnic group, at 23%
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those of Asian and Mixed ethnicity were less likely to volunteer formally at least once a month, at 17% and 16% respectively
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however, the number of people surveyed from the Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups was too small to draw firm conclusions
3. Methodology
The Community Life Survey (previously the Citizenship Survey) is a ‘sample survey’ – it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach ‘findings’) about the total population.
Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty, as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.
The commentary only refers to differences between groups where they are ‘statistically significant’. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.
Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.
Results by ethnic group are available in the reference tables of the latest Community Life Survey publication.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
All the results presented here are based on sample sizes of more than 100 respondents. This is because a smaller number of respondents wouldn’t be enough to draw meaningful conclusions.
Rounding
Estimates in the charts and tables are given to the nearest percentage. Download the data to get more detailed estimates to one decimal place.
Quality and methodology information
4. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Community Life Survey tracks developments in areas that are important to encouraging social action and empowering communities.
These include:
- volunteering and charitable giving
- neighbourhood (views about the local area, community cohesion and belonging)
- civic engagement and social action
- well-being
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, time, value, sample size