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Volunteerism amongst older Danes
Julie A. Norstrand, M.S.
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
September
20, 2003
As in the rest of the developed world, the growth of
the older population in
Denmark
is projected to be considerably larger than that of the younger
population. According to the
Danish National Institute of Social Research (2001) the 60 years and older
population will grow by 30% compared to approximately 2% for the youngest
generation (0-18 years old) and 3% for the 19 to 59 group between 1998 and
2020.
Denmark
is facing similar concerns to that of the developed world regarding how to
cope economically with an aging population. For example, by the year 2020
the cost of services to the aging population will rise by 20% to what it
is today (over $54,000,000).
Hence interest has grown in policies that may ameliorate this
economic burden. And volunteerism is one such possible avenue. As Dr. Ulla
Habermann (Hearing on Aging, 2002) pointed out at a hearing on the aging
society (2002) there is now increased interest in volunteerism amongst
politicians in
Denmark
. The goal of this brief article is to describe volunteerism in
Denmark
, particularly amongst older adults, and what the future holds.
The reason why
Denmark
may be a particularly interesting country to look at in terms of
volunteerism is because of its highly developed social welfare system.
In other words, how does
Denmark
view volunteerism?
Compared to the rest of
Europe
,
Denmark
ranks about average with regards to the level of volunteerism.
Approximately one third of Danes of all ages engage in voluntary work of
which three quarters are women. Estimates of the proportion of older
adults aged 60 and over whom volunteer ranges from 12 to 15 %. When
comparing to the
United States
, this is a somewhat small proportion of volunteers.
Peters-Davis (2001) quotes research which estimates that 44% of
older adults over 55 and 34% of those over age 75 are volunteers in the
States. As in the
United States
where volunteerism has risen steadily over the last 25 years,
Denmark
has also experienced a rise in this sector.
According to the Danish National Institute on Social Research
Institute, the growth in volunteerism between 1987 and 1993 was in large
part due to increased participation amongst older adults.
Also, a press release this year from the Institute discusses how
more and more Danes are engaging in voluntary work, not because of
mistrust to the public welfare but because of the experience gained from
solving problems of a different genre than they were used to in their
working lives.
In order to get a better understanding of the level
of volunteerism amongst older adults, it is also necessary to be aware of
the level of participation amongst younger generations.
The table below shows a breakdown by age group in various sectors
of volunteer activities in 1999:
|
Age
group
|
Social
work
|
Political
work
|
Cultural/sport
|
Total
|
|
18-29
år
|
8 %
|
6
%
|
19
%
|
32
%
|
|
30-49
år
|
11
%
|
14
%
|
22
%
|
43
%
|
|
50-65
år
|
13
%
|
12
%
|
18
%
|
41
%
|
|
66
år +
|
15
%
|
5
%
|
6
%
|
26
%
|
|
Total
|
12
%
|
11
%
|
18
%
|
37
%
|
Source:
Inger Koch-Nielsen og Jakob Dalsgaard Clausen: Værdierne i det frivillige
arbejde, i Peter Gundelach (red.): Danskernes værdier 1980-1999, Hans
Reitzels Forlag, København 2002.
As the table indicates,
the largest proportion of seniors in
Denmark
volunteer in the social arena. It
is interesting to note that only approximately one in ten Danes (of all
ages) are engaged in voluntary social work. One of the reasons for this,
according to social researchers, is the extended Danish welfare state that
takes responsibility for social work.
Denmark
is a country where the public sector takes responsibility for safeguarding
social welfare, far more so than countries such as the
United States
. However, the development of
social policy in
Denmark
in recent years has to a large extent centered on ways to present other
participants such as volunteers, with greater opportunities to contribute
to the development and maintenance of social welfare.
In other words, there has been increased opportunity for ideas to
evolve from ‘below’. And
with this ‘bottom-up’ approach new light has been thrown on voluntary
social organizations. When
considering the expected rise in the aging population, this goal is of
even greater importance as the welfare state is unlikely to be able to
deal with this problem without assistance.
Another aspect of Danish
volunteers is that the majority are women.
A study conducted by the Danish Ministry of Culture (2001) found
that there are on average 7 female volunteers to every 3 male volunteers.
The majority of male volunteers are receiving some form of
compensation such as early retirement income, whereas the majority of
female volunteers are either students or working.
The author suggests that it may be women have been socialized to do
voluntary work, whereas for men, unusual situations such as unemployment
are more likely to bring them into volunteer work.
The fact that the largest proportion of men who volunteer are on
early retirement is an important fact to be considered when discussing
volunteerism amongst older adults.
The previous information
highlights the fact that the pension system may have an important
implication for the leisure time amongst
older adults in
Denmark
, including volunteerism. In
other words, the pension system could have implications for availability
of older adults for volunteer work. The
official retirement age in
Denmark
is 67 years old; although in 2004 this will actually decrease to 65.
There is opportunity for early retirement at 60 years old, although
in 1992 the early retirement options were enhanced by a ‘very’ early
retirement scheme where long term unemployed could retire as early as 55
years old. However in 1995 due
to diminished unemployment rates, the ‘very’ early retirement scheme
was changed in such a way that it made it less attractive to join.
Also of relevance to retirement patterns in
Denmark
, is the introduction of the part-time early retirement schemes in 1987
mainly for self-employed who want a gradual retirement.
The retirement system
allows for early retirement in
Denmark
and it is unlikely that the early retirement scheme will change any time
soon as it has become a social ‘right’.
And this is clearly demonstrated by the low employment rates
amongst older adults. For
example, only 20% of those in the 60-66 year age group were working in
1999. Considering the fact
that demographically the Danish population is growing older, as discussed
previously, this means that there will be many more retired seniors in the
years to come compared to the proportion today.
With this in mind, this sector of the population could represent a
potential huge market available for volunteer work.
There are many benefits
of volunteerism, and these include feeling useful, helping those in need,
learning something new, gaining pleasure and satisfaction, and meeting new
people. The latter is of
particular interest to older people as many describe feelings of
loneliness. Societal trends,
which suggest higher divorce rates and greater number of people living
alone, forecast a rising number of single elderly in
Denmark
. The issue of loneliness is
of increasing public concern. This
coupled with the anticipated vast rise in financial cost of the aging
population and ‘available’ / retired seniors, makes the argument for
volunteerism seem a very logical (partial) solution.
It can only be considered partial since it is acknowledged that
there are many seniors that are unable to participate in the active sector
of society due to physical or cognitive limitations.
These concerns have actually been tackled by the “Older people
helping older people” (Aeldre hjaelper Aeldre) program whose mission is
to have active older people helping the more vulnerable disabled older
people. The program was
initiated in 1996 and has proved highly successful throughout
Denmark
. The number of volunteers has
grown sharply with a 40% rise from 1998 to 1999(1500 to 2100,
respectively). Also, the
variety of volunteer opportunities have grown since its inception, thereby
providing to a broader market of seniors with wide range of interests.
Another aspect to the
potential benefits of volunteerism as Dr. Habermann points out is that
volunteerism could encourage the unemployed or retired individual to seek
a paid employment again. This
aspect to volunteerism may play an increasingly important role in society
as attention on policies to keep seniors in the labor force has grown
since the last half of the 1990s in
Denmark
.
What does the future hold
for volunteerism amongst older Danes?
As of 2003, the Danish Parliament has emphasized the need for
strengthening of the social voluntary sector.
This is to happen by requiring municipalities to provide financial
support as well as to work directly with volunteer organizations.
With regards to recruitment of older adults, the Danish
National Institute of Social Research in 1995 found that approximately 47%
of the 45-59 year olds were interested in participating in volunteer work
compared to only 17% of those 60 and older.
These numbers suggest that the interest is far less in the
older age group, however, it is pointed out that there is a growing
proportion of the older group who are becoming more politically active in
the area of senior issues. Another
study carried out by the Aging Commission in Aahus (2003) found that 53%
of younger people were interested in participating in voluntary work when
they are 60 years and older.
To summarize, a minority
of older Danes participate in volunteer work however there is some
research to support the notion that participation rates may increase in
the future. Also, there is now
greater effort by the Danish government to support volunteer organizations
financially and to work collaboratively with them.
This will hopefully lead to greater awareness of voluntary
organizations. Based on the
research which shows that larger proportions of younger generations
volunteer, there is therefore greater focus on this sector compared to the
older generations at the moment for recruiting volunteers.
However, this could change as voluntary organizations gain greater
strength in the public sector. This
will hopefully lead to seniors becoming more aware of the volunteer
opportunities available to them. Another
way that volunteer organizations may be able to attract more seniors is to
provide types of volunteer work more suitable to the aging population,
such as the ‘Older people helping older people’ described above.
Denmark
clearly has a tremendous potential resource available in its elderly
population. The goal is now
for
Denmark
to make greater use of this resource! There is also a lesson for the
United States
in these findings. The
presence of an active social welfare program does not by itself lead to a
decrease in volunteering. It
depends on how the volunteer opportunities are presented to potential
candidates.
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