One of the things we track is volunteer rates. We ask, for instance, whether a person volunteered in the last 12 months. Youths 15 to 24 have the highest volunteer rate, but when you think about the overall average of Canadians, 44% of Canadians 15 and over volunteer, which is already a high rate. It does fluctuate. It goes down a bit between the ages of 25 and 34. That's the period of time where there is often preoccupation and focus on career development, housing, partnering, and all kinds of other things.
It picks up again...in fact if you have school-aged children in the home, then your volunteer rate has risen. The other thing is that over time, the number of hours increases. So older adults, about 36% of those 65 and over, volunteer, but they volunteer an average of 223 hours a year. On the flip side of that, the youth, who have a 66% rate, will volunteer about 110 hours a year. So that makes sense in terms of time.
The other difference is in the kinds of things people choose, as well as the personal benefits people report.