In furthering the investigation regarding the United States as a “nation of joiners,” this
study goes beyond the comparison of nominal voluntary association memberships, examining
nations’ levels of active memberships based on the assumption that active volunteering is a more accurate indicator of a nation’s true level of civic engagement. The following two questions are examined: 1) is the U.S. comparatively a “nation of joiners” in terms of active voluntary association memberships? And 2) in what types of associations are nations’ active memberships focused? To answer these questions, active memberships in religious, union, sports/recreation, education/cultural, and political associations are analyzed. Findings showed that the U.S. was comparatively a “nation of joiners” in terms of active religious memberships and education/cultural memberships, but had a high level of active joiners only in the former type of association. Among the “nations of joiners” in terms of the other types of associations included in the study, active memberships in Romania, Sweden, and China, were overwhelmingly focused in union, sports/recreation, and political associations, respectively.