Volunteer Activities Survey 2024
South Africa, 2024
Get MicrodataIdentification
zaf-statssa-vas-2024-v1
Volunteer Activities Survey 2024
VAS 2024
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
Labour Force Survey
| Type | Identifier |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.25828/0mkc-8s14 |
The Volunteer Activities Survey (VAS) is a household-based survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) every four years as a module of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). It collects information on up to three volunteer activities undertaken by individuals aged 15 years and older. VAS 2024 was implemented in two phases: the first identified participants through the QLFS conducted in the third quarter of 2024, while the second comprised follow-up interviews with those eligible.
Volunteering data provides insights into skills application, social networks, social capital, and quality-of-life outcomes. The survey’s primary aim is to measure the scale of volunteer work and highlight the significant share of labour that remains invisible in conventional labour statistics.
Its objectives are to:
- Collect reliable data on individuals engaged in volunteer activities.
- Profile participants in volunteer work.
- Estimate the economic value of volunteer contributions.
Stats SA first conducted the VAS in 2010, followed by surveys in 2014 and 2018. VAS 2024 is the fourth in the series, continuing the effort to document and value volunteer work in South Africa.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Household and individuals
Version
v1: Edited, anonymised dataset for licensed distribution
2026-06
Version 1 was originally downloaded from Stats SA on June 8th, 2026
Coverage
The survey has national coverage
The lowest level of geographic aggregation covered by the data is province.
The target population of the survey consists of individuals aged 15 years and older who live in South Africa and who are members of households living in dwellings that have been selected to take part in the Third Quarter of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa |
Study authorization
1999;2024
| Agency name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA |
Data collection by organs of state in South Africa is authorised by the Statistics Act, 1999, and the Statistics Amendment Act, 2024
Sampling
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) employs a stratified two-stage sampling design based on the 2001 Population Census. The country was divided into 80,787 enumeration areas (EAs), from which a Master Sample of primary sampling units (PSUs) was constructed. Small EAs with fewer than 25 households were excluded, while those with 25–99 households were combined to form PSUs, and large EAs were split into multiple PSUs. This design ensures representativeness at provincial, metro/non-metro, and geography-type levels (urban formal, urban informal, farms, and tribal). The overall sample size for the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is approximately 30,000 dwellings, drawn systematically from PSUs selected with probability proportional to size.
The current sample comprises 3,080 PSUs, divided into four rotation groups to facilitate quarterly updates while maintaining representativeness. Each rotation group mirrors the distribution of the full sample, allowing systematic replacement across survey waves. In the first stage, PSUs are selected using probability proportional to size, and in the second stage, dwelling units are sampled systematically within each PSU. This rotation and stratification framework ensures that the LFS produces reliable, nationally representative labour market statistics while balancing efficiency and continuity in data collection.
Researchers should refer to the VAS 2024 Metadata document for more information on sampling.
The sampling weights for data collected from the sampled households are constructed so that the responses can be properly expanded to represent the entire civilian population of South Africa. The weights were constructed to account for several factors, including original selection probabilities, adjustment for non-response, and benchmarking to known population estimates from the Demography Division of Stats SA.
Researchers should refer to the VAS 2024 Metadata document for more information on weights.
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024 |
Cross-section [cross section]
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatSA | Data collection and production. |
Access policy
DataFirst Dataportal
Statistics South Africa website
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://support.data1st.org/ | support@data1st.org |
Creative Commons Attribution only CC-BY license.
Statistics South Africa. Volunteer Activities Survey 2024 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2026. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/0mkc-8s14
Users of the data must send DataFirst a copy of or link to any publication based on the data
Metadata production
zaf-statssa-vas-2024-v1
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
2026-06
Metadata version
Version 1