The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has revealed that only 1 per cent of trustees on the new register are aged 18-24, and only 1 per cent are not white.

The statistics come from snapshot data released by the Commission on the charities now registered. The report analysed 2,407 trustees coming from 352 charities registered with the Commission, reflecting a sample size of 62 per cent of the full register of charities. The full register included 565 charities as of 10 November.

The report revealed that one third of charity trustees in Northern Ireland are aged 65 or over, while only one per cent are aged 18-24.

This is more than in England and Wales, where only 0.5 per cent of trustees are aged 18-24.

A post-registration application survey, which was filled in voluntarily, found further information about the trustees registered. The findings related to 231 trustees, which is only 6 per cent of the total number of trustees of registered charities.

The survey found that only one per cent of respondents classified their ethnicity as other than ‘white’, while only one per cent did not have English as a first language.

The sample also showed that the average number of trustees in a charity was seven, with the highest number seen being 24 and the lowest being two. Based on these figures, the report revealed that there could be upwards of 49,000 individual charity trustees in Northern Ireland.

Frances McCandless (pictured), chief executive of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, said: “While the register of charities is still growing, I am delighted that we are now in a position where we can start to use and analyse some of the important data it holds on Northern Ireland’s charities.”

Compulsory charity registration in Northern Ireland began in December 2013, with the Commission managing the registration of Northern Ireland’s charities by calling organisations forward to apply in stages.