Volunteering and giving to charity increased in 2012 in England, according to the first official Community Life Survey.
The survey also showed that almost nine out of 10 people (87%) in England believe they live in a cohesive community and almost eight out of 10 (79%) feel they belong strongly to their neighbourhood.
Ministers claimed the figures were a vindication of the Government's Big Society agenda to strengthen civil society.
Compared with the previous Citizenship Survey, numbers of people giving up their time to help others at least once a year rose by six percentage points from 65% in 2010 to 71% in 2012, partly as a result of events building on the legacy of the Olympic Games Makers, according to the figures from the Cabinet Office. Meanwhile, 74% of those surveyed reported making donations to charity in 2012, compared with 72% in 2010.
The figures were released as Prime Minister David Cameron helped the Alzheimer's Society launch a drive to recruit one million volunteers to support people with dementia.
Mr Cameron said: "We all want a bigger, stronger society where people do their bit and that's why I am pleased that the Community Life Survey shows we are making progress. The figures show that millions more people are volunteering and that the British people remain incredibly generous with charitable giving."
Civil society minister Nick Hurd highlighted the National Citizen Service, which saw 26,000 young people offer 700,000 hours of social action in 2012 - treble the number who took part in 2011 - as well as the Olympic legacy Join In programme, which involved 300,000 people in 6,000 events, and the Government's £20 million Social Action Fund, which has helped charities recruit 100,000 more volunteers.
Mr Hurd said: "These figures show a very positive picture of how well Britain has responded to tough times. We should take pride that so many people have helped reverse the decline in volunteering. London 2012 showed what we can achieve through volunteering and we are determined to build on the inspiration of the Games."
Some 2,262 people were interviewed by pollsters TNS-BRMB for the survey. Of those, 55% said they felt a "very strong" sense of belonging to Britain, compared with 51% in 2010. Nearly half said they would like to be more involved in local decisions.
Overall, 87% said their local area was one where people from different backgrounds get on well together. Community cohesion was strongest in the South West (91%), followed by the South East (90%), West Midlands (89%), London (88%), East Midlands and East of England (87%) and the North West (85%), and lowest in the North East and Yorkshire & The Humber (both 82%).
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