Four people are sitting and talking and laughing. One sits in a wheelchair.

In 2022, the share of people aged 16 years or over who reported having participated in formal volunteering (formal voluntary activities through an organisation or formal group to help people, the environment, animals etc.) in the EU was 10.3% for people with a disability and 13.0% for those without. Regarding informal volunteering (as helping other people doing their cooking, walking their dog, or shopping for them), the share varied between 13.3% for people with a disability and 14.7% for those without a disability.

When looking at active citizenship, which refers to the participation in political or community activities (activities in a political party, local interest group, public consultation, protesting), those shares are at 7.4% for people with a disability and 8.4% for those without.

Share of people having participated in voluntary activities or active citizenship during the previous 12 months in the EU, 2022. Bar chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: ilc_scp39

People aged 16-44 with a disability had higher participation rates than their counterparts without a disability: 14.8% vs 12.8% for formal volunteering, 19.5% vs 14.7% for informal volunteering and 12.4% vs 8.5% for active citizenship. 

On the other hand, for people aged 65 or over, participation rates were considerably lower for those with a disability. For example, the share in formal volunteering was 7.7% for people with a disability vs 13.5% for those without, and in informal volunteering, it was 8.9% vs 14.5%.