Volunteerism in Russia: Trends, regional differences and the impact of sociodemographic factors

The article presents the results of a study of volunteering in the Russian Federation from a regional perspective for the period 2022–2024 according to the following indicators: level of volunteerism, median age of volunteers, number of female volunteers per 1,000 male volunteers, number of rural volunteers per 1,000 urban volunteers, proportion of working-age volunteers in the total number of volunteers. The analysis is based on official data from Rosstat – a sample survey of volunteering workforce for 2022–2024. The study shows that the median age of Russians engaged in volunteering is increasing. As a rule, there are more women than men among the volunteers. The ratio of rural to urban volunteers is growing. The share of working-age volunteers in the total number of volunteers in Russia as a whole is quite stable and ranges from 73–74%. In the course of the study, we calculate the following labor market indicators: volunteers’ labor force participation rate, volunteers’ employment rate, volunteers’ unemployment rate (or the proportion of volunteers who are currently unemployed), ratio of the number of volunteers who are unemployed to the number of volunteers who are employed (per 1,000 employed volunteers). The relationship between the level of volunteerism and other indicators was determined based on the use of paired (linear) Pearson correlation coefficients and paired Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. In addition, we conduct a statistical analysis of individual regional quintile groups formed on the basis of the values of the level of volunteerism in the regions. The article will be of interest to economists, sociologists, political scientists, and others interested in research on volunteerism in Russia