Outras formas de trabalho
Brazil has 7.2 million persons doing volunteer work
April 26, 2019 10h00 AM | Last Updated: April 26, 2019 05h06 PM
Volunteering was practiced by 7.2 million persons in Brazil in 2018, according to the Other Forms of Work supplement of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey, released today by the IBGE. It slightly dropped 1.6% in relation to the previous year, after rising 13% between 2016 and 2017.
The total number of volunteers represented 4.3% of the population aged 14 years and over. The occurrence was higher among women – 5% of them did volunteer work; persons aged 50 years and over, 5%; and those with complete higher education, 8%.
"Due to the cultural issue, the presence of women is bigger. As they have more spare time and more life experience, older persons are more involved. And the participation of those with more education is related to more stable earnings and the understanding that they need to help", summarizes Maria Lúcia Vieira, an IBGE analyst.
According to the survey, the volunteer work in Brazil was carried out in a consistent way. The average length of the activities was 6.5 hours per week and most volunteers (48.4%) dedicated four or more days per week.
Individual volunteer work increases
Like in 2016 and 2017, most volunteer works were done in institutions like religious congregations, unions, condos, political parties, schools, hospitals and asylums. In 2018, 79.9% of the volunteers worked in these places.
About 13% of the volunteers performed activities in associations of residents, sports associations, NGOs, supporting groups and other organizations. The minority, 9.8%, carried out the work individually, though this portion has been increasing year after year. They were 8.4% in 2016 and rose to 9% in 2017.
"The individual work is that made directly to the other person, like a neighbor who goes to a medical appointment with a senior or a person who distributes food to those in need in the neighborhood. It should be mentioned that the volunteer can perform his/her work in more than one place, which is also captured by the survey", highlights Vieira.
