Research brief
Youth and volunteering in India, 2026
India has about 37 crore young people aged 15 to 29. Survey estimates of how many Indians volunteer range from 19% to 41%, and most volunteering is informal, short and self-organised. The barrier is access, not willingness: 30% of Indians say they want to do more but do not know how.
Key figures
Six numbers that frame youth volunteering in India.
371.4M
young people aged 15 to 29 in 2021 (projected), 27.2% of India’s population
MoSPI, Youth in India 2022
22.7%
projected youth share of the population by 2036, down from 27.2% in 2021
MoSPI, Youth in India 2022
9.9%
youth unemployment in 2025 (13.6% urban, 8.3% rural), against 3.1% for everyone aged 15+
MoSPI, PLFS 2025
38.9 lakh
National Service Scheme volunteers in 2025-26, up from 34.09 lakh in 2014-15
PIB, August 2026
3 crore+
young people registered on the MY Bharat platform by September 2026
All India Radio, September 2026
30%
of Indians want to get more involved in giving time or money but do not know how (2025)
CAF World Giving Report 2026
How many young people does India have?
India had an estimated 371.4 million people aged 15 to 29 in 2021, up from 333.4 million in 2011, according to MoSPI’s Youth in India 2022. They made up 27.2% of the population.
The share is now shrinking. MoSPI projects the youth population at 345.5 million by 2036, 22.7% of all Indians. The years in which young people are this large a share of the country, and the largest pool of potential volunteers it will have, are passing now.
How many Indians volunteer?
The answer depends on whom you ask and how. In CAF’s World Giving Report 2026, 19% of Indians said they did unpaid voluntary work in 2025, down from 24% in 2024, against a global average of 24%. A UN Volunteers survey from March and April 2025 found 31% of Indian adults reported volunteering. Gallup data used in the last World Giving Index (2024 edition, 2023 data) put the figure at 41%.
Each survey defines volunteering differently, so any headline number should name its source. What the surveys agree on is that a large share of Indians give time, and that much more would if it were easier.
What volunteering looks like in India
Most of it is informal. In the UN Volunteers survey, 87.9% of Indian volunteering was informal and 12.1% formal; 81.4% of volunteers organised the activity themselves, and 65.4% gave fewer than five hours, the highest share of short-duration volunteering among the eight countries studied.
Flexible timing was the most cited motivator in India, at 25.5%. Globally, UN Volunteers estimates that about 2.1 billion people volunteer each month, 34.5% of the working-age population.
NSS, NYKS and MY Bharat: the public platforms
Government platforms are growing fast on registrations. National Service Scheme enrolment reached 38.90 lakh in 2025-26. MY Bharat, launched in 2023, had about 1.70 crore registered youth at the end of 2024-25, 2.22 crore by July 2026 and more than 3 crore by September 2026, with over 1.52 lakh volunteering opportunities listed.
Registration is not the same as regular, active volunteering. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan was present in 623 districts in 2024-25, but on 1 January 2025, 1,101 of its 2,273 sanctioned posts were vacant, according to a Lok Sabha reply. Platforms need people on the ground to turn sign-ups into service.
Jobs, purpose and the young workforce
Youth unemployment was 9.9% in 2025 (13.6% in cities), roughly three times the 3.1% rate for everyone aged 15 and over, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey. For many young people, experience gained through service is also experience employers ask for.
Purpose matters to them at work. In Deloitte’s 2026 survey, 99% of Indian Gen Zs and 98% of millennials said a sense of purpose is important to their job satisfaction, and 48% of Indian Gen Zs had turned down a potential employer over personal beliefs.
What this means: structure is the missing piece
The numbers point in one direction. Young Indians are willing, and platforms can register them in crores. What is scarce is structure: short, well-defined roles, someone who trains and follows up, and a reason to come back.
That is the gap Raghu Vamsi Kadiri built Marpu Foundation to close. Marpu designs programmes around volunteers from the first day, the approach he calls Volunteer-First CSR, and works with a community of more than a million volunteers across 23+ states. For companies, colleges and NGOs, the practical lessons are the same: offer flexible micro-roles, connect them to programmes that run all year, recognise the time given, and measure what volunteers achieve, not just how many turned up.
Questions people ask about youth volunteering in India
How many young people are there in India?
About 371.4 million people aged 15 to 29 in 2021, according to MoSPI’s Youth in India 2022 projections. That was 27.2% of the population, a share projected to fall to 22.7% by 2036.
What percentage of Indians volunteer?
It depends on the survey: 19% did unpaid voluntary work in 2025 (CAF World Giving Report 2026), 31% reported volunteering in a 2025 UN Volunteers survey, and 41% said they had volunteered in Gallup data used for the 2024 World Giving Index. Always name the source when quoting a figure.
How many students are in the National Service Scheme?
38.90 lakh volunteers enrolled in NSS in 2025-26, up from 34.09 lakh in 2014-15, according to a PIB factsheet of August 2026.
How many young people are registered on MY Bharat?
More than 3 crore by September 2026, according to All India Radio. Registration is not the same as regular volunteering, and official counts change quickly, so date every figure.
Why don’t more young Indians volunteer?
Access more than willingness. In CAF’s 2025 data, 30% of Indians said they would like to get more involved but do not know how, and 22% said they lack time. Flexible timing is the most cited motivator in UN Volunteers’ India data.
How can companies involve young employees in volunteering?
Offer short, flexible roles with a clear purpose, connect them to the company’s CSR programme rather than one-off events, and recognise the time given. Volunteer-First CSR, the model Raghu Vamsi Kadiri developed at Marpu Foundation, builds programmes around exactly this.
Sources
- MoSPI, Youth in India 2022, Statistical Profile. mospi.gov.in
- MoSPI, Youth in India 2022. mospi.gov.in
- MoSPI, Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, press note, 27 March 2026. www.mospi.gov.in
- PIB factsheet, Empowering Youth, Transforming India, 13 August 2026. pib.gov.in
- All India Radio News, MY Bharat crosses 3 crore registered youth, 23 September 2026. newsonair.gov.in
- Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Annual Report 2024-25. yas.gov.in
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 35, 3 February 2025 (NYKS posts). eparlib.sansad.in
- UN Volunteers, Comparative Findings on Volunteerism: Insights from Eight Countries, May 2026. knowledge.unv.org
- UN Volunteers, 2026 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, summary. knowledge.unv.org
- CAF, World Giving Index 2024. www.heakodanik.ee
- CAF, World Giving Report 2026, India. worldgivingreport.org
- Deloitte, 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, India. www.deloitte.com
How to cite this brief
Kadiri, R. V. (2026, October). Youth and volunteering in India, 2026 [Research brief]. https://kadiriraghuvamsi.com/research/youth-volunteering-india/
Running a youth or volunteering programme?
Raghu speaks and runs workshops on building volunteer programmes people stay with.