Switzerland is a nation of volunteers
One in four Swiss does voluntary work such as helping out in sports associations and charities, according to a survey.
And nearly as many people provide unpaid services, including looking after children, helping out the neighbours and providing transport.
Figures taken from The Swiss Labour Force Survey 2004, published by the Federal Statistics Office, show that 1.5 million people regularly do volunteer work in Switzerland.
A typical volunteer is described as between 40 and 54-years-old, well educated, and spends half a day a week helping out for free.
But there are differences between the sexes: men are more involved in sports groups (12 per cent), cultural associations (6.2 per cent) and interest groups (5.8 per cent). Three per cent of men are involved as volunteers in local or party politics.
For women, this figure stands at 1.1 per cent. Otherwise they are engaged in sports associations (5.3 per cent), social institutions and charities (5.1 per cent) or religious institutions (4.4 per cent).
Unpaid services
Meanwhile, unpaid services for other people are provided by 1.4 million Swiss and mostly by women and pensioners. Young people between 15 and 24-years-old were not well represented in this category.
Women mostly provide childcare. Men do gardening and transport duties and help out the neighbours.
In all, 1.5 per cent of women and 0.5 per cent of men look after relatives or acquaintances outside their families.
According to the office, the number of volunteers has remained fairly steady since 1997, with only cultural work by men decreasing in popularity.
In 2000 an estimated 740 million hours a year were spent in voluntary work and it was worth SFr27 billion ($22 billion).
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People engaged in voluntary work: 1.5 million.
Unpaid services for others: 1.4 million.
Hours spent in voluntary work in 2000: 740 million.
Value of voluntary work in 2000: SFr27 billion.
The Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) is sent out to Swiss households every year between April and June. It has been conducted since 1991.
The main purpose of the SLFS is to provide information on the structure of the labour force and employment behaviour patterns.
For voluntary work, the SLFS considered two aspects: institutional voluntary work and informal unpaid services (for other parties).
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