The Health Benefits of Volunteering

Volunteering has long been a common ethic in the United States, with people each year giving their time without any expectation of compensation. While these volunteer activities may be performed with the core intention of helping others, there is also a common wisdom that those who give of themselves also receive. Researchers have attempted to measure the benefits that volunteers receive, including the positive feeling referred to as “helper’s high,” increased trust in others, and increased social and political participation.

Over the past two decades we have seen a growing body of research that indicates volunteering provides individual health benefits in addition to social benefits. This research has established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer. Comparisons of the health benefits of volunteering for different age groups have also shown that older volunteers are the most likely to receive greater benefits from volunteering, whether because they are more likely to face higher incidence of illness or because volunteering provides them with physical and social activity and a sense of purpose at a time when their social roles are changing. Some of these findings also indicate that volunteers who devote a “considerable” amount of time to volunteer activities (about 100 hours per year) are most likely to exhibit positive health outcomes.

These findings are particularly relevant today as Baby Boomers—the generation of 77 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964— reach the age typically associated with retirement. Based on U.S. Census data, the numbers of volunteers age 65 and older should increase 50 percent over the next 13 years, from just under 9 million in 2007 to more than 13 million in 2020. What’s more, that number can be expected to rise for many years to come, as the youngest Baby Boomers will not reach age 65 until 2029.

Information published by the Corporation for National and Community Service.