大象传媒

Volunteering has been shown to have a positive impact on health. Alice Levine interviews Dr Suzanne Richards to find out the health and fitness benefits of volunteering. The University of Exeter medical school found that volunteers had a 20% lower risk of death than their peers who do not volunteer. On top of that, the study also found that volunteers had lower levels of depression, increased life satisfaction and enhanced well-being.

Further, the benefits of volunteering on the economy are substantial. 21.1 million people formally volunteered at least once in the last year, and 13.8 million people formally volunteer regularly. This equates to a value to the economy of around 拢23.9 billion.