Youth Volunteer Survey
During the Samaritan Contest — the international first aid youth competition that brings together young volunteers from Samaritan organisations across Europe to test their skills in realistic emergency scenarios — Samaritan International carried out a survey of 105 young volunteers (ages 12-21) from 12 European countries.
The survey explores how they got involved in volunteering, what motivates them, and how they see its value for their community and for society. Volunteering proves strongly self-perpetuating: most respondents were introduced to it through friends or family, and almost all intend to keep volunteering in the future. Their motivation is driven far more by helping others and gaining experience than by personal or career gain, and there is considerable untapped potential, as most young people not yet active in the social sector could see themselves taking it up.
Beyond its immediate social benefit, volunteering builds skills relevant to school and career alongside social and civic competencies, strengthens connections across generations, backgrounds and cultures, and measurably increases participants’ confidence and resilience. Respondents overwhelmingly link their personal engagement to a broader sense of civic responsibility and social cohesion. Together, these findings support SPIRIT’s Priority 2 objective of reinforcing structured volunteering as a pillar of social resilience and point to the need for stronger EU-level recognition and strategic support for the civil society organisations that sustain these volunteering opportunities.
The survey was carried out in the framework of the Social Preparedness and Resilience Inititiative (SPIRIT), co-funded by the European Commission.
