General Social Survey - Giving, Volunteering and Participating (GSS GVP)

Volunteer rate of population, proportion

Volunteer rate refers to the percentage of people in the population who volunteered in a specified time period. Volunteering refers to engaging in activities done without pay on behalf of a group or organization and includes, for example, unpaid help to schools, religious organizations and community association.

Population refers to the total membership, based on specific characteristics, of a group of people, objects or events at a given time and within a particular geographic area.

The data for this variable are reported using the following measurements:

• Percentage