Volunteering and donating rates in rural areas continue to be far higher than among urban communities, government figures have found.

While three in five people in rural areas said they had volunteered in the last year, for urban areas the proportion is one in every two.

Also, over the last month two in five people in rural areas had volunteered but in urban areas the rate is one in every three, found the research published this week in the government's Digest of Rural England report.

It says that higher rates of volunteering in rural areas is likely to “reflect socio-economic factors”.

But the government research also found in both rural and urban areas there has been a decline in volunteering, which mirrors a raft of evidence released this year on volunteer recruitment and retention challenges facing charities.

In November Charities Aid Foundation published its World Giving Index which found the UK is ranked only 58th in the world for volunteering.

Meanwhile, in June figures from the VCSE Sector Barometer found that two in five charities are struggling to meet their objectives due to a lack of volunteers.

Donating differences

Donating rates are also higher in rural communities, where seven in ten said they had recently donated to charity, “slightly more than in urban areas”, the government’s figures show.

This is part of a long-term trend in giving when comparing the two area types. Between 2013/14 and 2020/21 a greater proportion of those in rural areas said they donated to charity compared to those in urban communities.

However, this gap has fluctuated in recent years, amid the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis.

Between 2019/20 and 2021/22 giving in rural areas declined by 16 percentage points and in urban areas by 10 percentage points.

Between 2020/21 and 2021/22 the proportion of those reporting they had recently given to charity rose by six percentage points in rural areas and by three percentage points in urban areas.

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