City's volunteer force continues to expand

The rate of volunteer registration in Shanghai reached 18 percent last year, increasing by 1.4 percentage points over 2018, the latest report on the city's voluntary service shows.

By June 30, the city had 4.78 million residents registered as volunteers. Data shows that the number of local volunteers has risen every year since 2009.

The report was jointly issued by the city's spiritual civilization office, volunteer association and academy of social sciences on Thursday. Hundreds of local volunteers and residents have been surveyed as part of the report.

According to the report, more volunteers are focusing on community service. Last year, some 63 percent of local volunteers participated in events organized by community voluntary service centers; this figure is 26 percentage points higher than 2018.

The Internet and social media play an increasingly important role in the spread of voluntary service information. Nearly 68 percent of local residents and 65 percent of volunteers said they learned about voluntary services from online media or social platforms like QQ and WeChat.

More than 96 percent of volunteers and 93 percent of residents were satisfied with their voluntary work, both rising from 2018.

Some 57 percent of volunteers said they will spend more time doing voluntary work, up 14 percentage points from 2018, while 39 percent said they will perform about the same voluntary hours.

Nearly 75 percent of surveyed volunteers and 78 percent of residents expressed an intention to volunteer at the China International Import Expo. Compared with 2018, the rate of willingness of local volunteers and residents to participate in garbage-sorting voluntary work increased by 27.7 and 6.2 percentage points respectively.

About 23 percent of volunteers hope their voluntary work hours can be included into China's social credit system.