Active Ageing: Voluntary Work by Older People in Europe

“Active ageing” has become a key phrase in the discourses about healthy aging processes, and one important way that it has been achieved in Europe is through the engagement of older people in volunteer work. Active Ageing offers a much-needed compendium of research on volunteerism among seniors. Ranging across eight European countries, the contributors highlight how different levels in the structure of volunteering—from local to national—interact, and how these interactions either facilitate or hinder seniors’ inclusion in voluntary work. They go on to offer policy suggestions for a more integrated strategy that can better support this unique group of volunteer workers.