SHANGHAI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Registered volunteers account for over 21 percent of the permanent population in Shanghai, with the registration rate and number of volunteers hitting record highs, figures on the official website of the city's voluntary service information system showed on Wednesday.

As of Dec. 31, 2020, there were more than 5.2 million volunteers registered with real-name authentication in the system, accounting for over 21 percent of the city's permanent residents, up 3 percentage points from 2019.

The Shanghai municipal government, the Shanghai Volunteers Association, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and a research center for volunteer service in Shanghai jointly conducted a research, which obtained 19,039 valid questionnaires from volunteers and 14,478 from citizens.

The research showed that the prevention and control of COVID-19 since last year has further stimulated the enthusiasm for volunteering among citizens.

Volunteer projects involving epidemic prevention and control accounted for 75.7 percent of all volunteer services in Shanghai, followed by community service and garbage sorting.

Residents' appraisal of the work of volunteers has also improved significantly, as 98.7 percent of those interviewed declared they were "satisfied" with such work. Enditem