Based on Statistics Canada’s Satellite Account of Non-Profit Institutions and Volunteering, Table 36-10-0618-01, released March 30, 2026
Volunteering is often described in terms of hours given, services delivered, and communities supported. All of those framings are accurate, but they leave out something that matters for advocacy, for planning, and for making the case to funders and governments: volunteering has an economic value, and Statistics Canada has measured it.
According to Table 36-10-0618-01, released on March 30, 2026, the economic value of formal volunteering in Canada was $31.7 billion in 2023. That figure is produced through a peer-reviewed wage replacement methodology, updated every five years, and it is the most authoritative national estimate available. It is also falling.
This blog walks through seven findings from the 2023 data. Together they tell a story about where volunteer economic value is concentrated, where it is being lost, and what the pattern means for organizations that depend on volunteers to deliver their work.
A note on comparability: Statistics Canada revised its methodology between the 2013 and 2018 reference years, so the 2013 figure of $41.8 billion cannot be directly compared to 2018 or 2023. All trend analysis in this post uses the two comparable cycles only: 2018 and 2023.
1. Canada’s volunteers generate $31.7 billion in economic value every year
The $31.7 billion figure is produced using a wage replacement methodology: volunteer hours drawn from the General Social Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating are multiplied by Statistics Canada’s average provincial hourly wage rates to estimate the cost of replacing that labour with paid workers.
Because the methodology is conservative, the figure is best understood as a floor. It does not capture informal volunteering, the social and democratic value of civic participation, the full replacement cost of specialized skills, or the organizational capacity that long-serving volunteers sustain. The actual value of volunteering to Canadian communities is larger than $31.7 billion.
| $31.7B economic value of volunteering, Canada, 2023 | Wage replacement methodology: volunteer hours x Statistics Canada average provincial wage rates | Every 5 years reference cycle: 2013, 2018, and 2023 (2013 not comparable to 2018/2023) |
$31.7 billion captures formal volunteering at average wage rates only. The actual contribution of volunteers to Canadian communities is substantially higher.
2. Between 2018 and 2023, the economic value of volunteering fell by $5.2 billion
The comparable 2018 figure was $36.9 billion. By 2023 it had fallen to $31.7 billion, a loss of $5.2 billion, or 14%, over five years. This decline is not a statistical artifact: it reflects a real reduction in volunteer hours given through formal organizations, and it has direct operational consequences for every organization that relies on volunteers to deliver programs and services.
For volunteer-involving organizations, the practical implication is straightforward: the sector has less volunteer economic capacity available today than it did five years ago, and planning that does not account for this is planning on a false baseline.
| $36.9B economic value of volunteering, Canada, 2018 | $31.7B economic value of volunteering, Canada, 2023 | -$5.2B total loss, 2018 to 2023 | -14% percentage decline, comparable cycles |
A 14% decline in volunteer economic value is a 14% reduction in the capacity that communities and organizations depend on to deliver programs and services.
3. Three sectors carry more than 63% of all volunteer economic value
Volunteer economic value is not evenly distributed across sectors. In 2023, culture and recreation generated $7.3 billion, social services generated $7.0 billion, and religion generated $5.9 billion. Together, these three sectors account for more than 63% of all volunteer economic value in Canada.
This concentration means that organizations in these three sectors collectively carry the largest share of Canada’s civic economy and face the largest absolute exposure when volunteer hours decline. The remaining nine sectors divide the remaining 36%, with education and research at $2.9 billion and health at $2.4 billion as the next two largest contributors.
| $7.3B Culture and recreation | $7.0B Social services | $5.9B Religion | 63.8% Share of national total held by these three sectors |
Three sectors carry nearly two-thirds of all volunteer economic value in Canada. Their exposure to volunteer decline is not proportional to their size; it is amplified by it.
4. Four sectors lost more than a quarter of their volunteer economic value in five years
While the national average decline was 14%, the sector-level data reveals much steeper losses in specific areas. Four sectors lost more than 25% of their volunteer economic value between 2018 and 2023.
Philanthropic intermediaries and voluntarism promotion saw the steepest decline at 36.2%, falling from $586 million to $374 million. Environment organizations lost 30.5%, from $1.8 billion to $1.3 billion. Law, advocacy, and politics lost 30.4%, from $1.2 billion to $817 million. Health volunteering fell 29.6%, from $3.4 billion to $2.4 billion.
These sectors exist precisely because markets and governments leave gaps. When volunteer capacity in these areas falls, those gaps rarely get filled by another mechanism. Their losses also compound outward: philanthropic intermediaries support the infrastructure that other voluntary sector organizations depend on, so their capacity decline has effects that extend well beyond their own programs.
| -36.2% Philanthropic intermediaries and voluntarism promotion | -30.5% Environment | -30.4% Law, advocacy, and politics | -29.6% Health |
Organizations in health, environment, law and advocacy, and philanthropic intermediaries are planning in the context of a sector that lost nearly a third of its volunteer economic value in five years.
5. Social services held remarkably steady and two sectors grew
Not every sector followed the same trajectory. Social services, the second-largest sector by volunteer economic value, declined by only 2.3% over five years, from $7.1 billion to $7.0 billion. In a landscape where most sectors are losing significant ground, that near-stability is a meaningful signal. Understanding what sustained social services through this period — whether organizational investment, program design, or community ties — is worth investigating as a lesson for the broader sector.
Two sectors saw their volunteer economic value increase between 2018 and 2023. International volunteering grew by 22.5%, and business and professional associations, including unions, grew by 3.8%. Both operate from a relatively small base, but their growth in a period of broad decline is notable.
| -2.3% Social services (second-largest sector — virtually flat) | -6.9% Religion (modest decline relative to other sectors) | +3.8% Business and professional associations | +22.5% International volunteering (strongest relative growth) |
Social services is the largest sector in dollar terms and the most resilient. At the same time, that resilience should be read carefully. The number of individuals and families relying on social services has increased in recent years, meaning that a near-flat contribution base is now supporting significantly higher demand.
6. Ontario generates nearly half of all volunteer economic value in Canada
The provincial distribution of volunteer economic value is highly concentrated. Ontario generated $13.8 billion in 2023, representing 43.7% of the national total. At that level, Ontario’s volunteer economic value exceeds the combined total of every other province and territory in Canada.
The four largest provinces, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta, together account for 86.6% of the national total. This level of concentration is a structural feature, not a temporary condition. For organizations operating at national scale, it means the health of the sector as a whole is disproportionately tied to what happens in a small number of regions.
| $13.8B Ontario (43.7% of national total) | $5.3B British Columbia (16.7%) | $4.7B Quebec (14.7%) | $3.7B Alberta (11.6%) |
7. Provincial declines vary widely: PEI grew while Saskatchewan fell by nearly a third
The national 14% decline masks a much wider range of local experience. Saskatchewan lost 31.4% of its volunteer economic value between 2018 and 2023, Newfoundland and Labrador lost 30.4%, and Alberta lost 29.5%. These are declines more than double the national average. Quebec lost 21.6%, Manitoba 16.5%, and British Columbia 11.5%. New Brunswick fell 9.3%, Ontario 5.5%, and Nova Scotia was nearly flat at 0.6%.
Prince Edward Island was the only province where volunteer economic value increased, growing by 11.1% between 2018 and 2023. Organizations operating regionally should not assume the national trend reflects their local context. The variation across provinces is significant and operationally meaningful.
| -31.4% Saskatchewan (steepest provincial decline) | -30.4% Newfoundland and Labrador | -29.5% Alberta | +11.1% PEI (only province where value grew) |
The national 14% average is not a reliable planning figure for most provinces. Organizations operating regionally should benchmark against their provincial trend, not the national one.
What this means for volunteer-involving organizations
The data in Table 36-10-0618-01 is not only a diagnostic. It is a tool. The wage replacement methodology is not proprietary to Statistics Canada: any organization that tracks volunteer hours can apply the same approach and calculate its own contribution in dollar terms. That number belongs in grant applications, annual reports, board conversations, and advocacy with funders and government. Five practical priorities follow from this data.
- Know where your sector sits. The sector-level breakdown shows clearly where the losses are concentrated. Organizations in health, environment, law and advocacy, and philanthropic intermediaries are working in a context where the volunteer economic base contracted by nearly a third in five years. That context should inform planning, staffing, and resource allocation decisions.
- Track hours, not just headcount. The economic value figure is built on volunteer hours, not participation rates. An organization that counts volunteers without counting time cannot calculate its own contribution, benchmark against sector trends, or demonstrate to funders and boards what it stands to lose when volunteers reduce their commitment.
- Calculate your own contribution. Multiply your organization’s total annual volunteer hours by Statistics Canada’s average provincial wage rate to produce a consistent, defensible estimate of volunteer economic value. Report it alongside headcount. It is the most credible framing available for the case that volunteers make possible.
- Use $31.7 billion. This number is peer-reviewed, nationally consistent, and sourced directly from Statistics Canada’s Satellite Account. The 14% decline between 2018 and 2023 makes the urgency visible and verifiable. Both belong in every conversation with funders, governments, and boards about what the voluntary sector needs and what is at stake.
- Plan for geographic concentration. National organizations should not treat Ontario as one region among many. Its 43.7% share of volunteer economic value makes it a planning variable. Organizations operating in provinces where the decline exceeds 25% face a local context significantly more challenging than the national average suggests.
About the data
All data in this post draws from Statistics Canada’s Satellite Account of Non-Profit Institutions and Volunteering, Table 36-10-0618-01, released March 30, 2026. Economic value figures are in current dollars. The 2013 reference year is not directly comparable to 2018 and 2023 due to methodological changes in source data, as noted in Statistics Canada’s published footnotes. All trend comparisons in this post use the 2018 and 2023 cycles only, which are the two comparable reference years currently available. The next reference cycle is expected to capture 2028 data.
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