Volunteering is favourite Year Out activity, research finds

‘Volunteering’ is becoming synonymous with ‘Gap Year’

Volunteering is the top choice for those taking a year out, research revealed today shows.

Having a year on your hands provides more scope for travelling ethically, from how you get there, to what you do there, and how you consume. Volunteering is a good way to ensure that the receiving country is benefitting from you being there.

The research came from Year Out Group, the not-for-profit association of UK-registered year out organisations, which has seen a 20 per cent increase of structured placements taken up in 2007, an increase of nearly 8,000 compared with the previous year.

Richard Oliver, Year Out’s chief exec, said: ‘Volunteering is overwhelmingly the gap year activity of choice. All of the volunteering projects organised by members have been set up to provide maximum benefit to the communities and countries involved.’

Teaching is volunteers’ firm favourite, followed by general care (e.g. health, children), land-based conservation projects and then community projects.

As you’d expect the majority (76 per cent) of placements are taken by 18-24 year olds, although placements are increasing among over 25’s, wishing to take a year out of work as opposed to the traditional gap year from study. Females (59 per cent) outnumber males and are more likely to choose volunteering projects.

The findings came from the 46,723 people who took placements in over 90 countries with Year Out’s member companies in 2007, all of which comply with Year Out’s Code of Practice.