Environment Statistics from the Scottish Household Survey 2023

‘Environment Statistics from the Scottish Household Survey 2023’ was published today. This summarises key findings from the five questions in the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) 2023 relating to attitudes to climate change, visits to the outdoors, and green and blue spaces.

In 2023, 74% of adults agree that ‘climate change is an immediate and urgent problem’. There was no change in this figure between 2022 and 2023. However, the figure maintaining at 74% represents a marked increase from 2013 (46%).

There has been a long-term increase in the percentage of adults visiting the outdoors at least weekly, from 42% in 2012 to 70% in 2022. There was a slight decrease in this figure between 2022 and 2023 (from 70% to 68%), but visits to the outdoors in 2023 are still markedly higher than pre-COVID-19 (56% in 2019).

Adults in ‘very good or good’ health were much more likely to visit the outdoors at least weekly than those in ‘very bad or bad’ health (74% vs 37%).

Adults who live within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space were much more likely to use it frequently than those who live over 10 minutes’ walk away (53% vs 16%).

In the least deprived areas, 82% of adults were satisfied with their nearest green or blue space, compared with 64% of those in the most deprived areas.

Background

Environment Statistics from the Scottish Household Survey 2023

The annual Scottish Household Survey (SHS) collects information on behaviours, attitudes and characteristics of Scotland’s people. This short topic-based publication summarises key points arising from five questions in the survey relating to climate change and the environment in 2023. This is a change from the approach in previous years, where most results were presented together in a single Scottish Household Survey publication, including an Environment chapter.

All data tables from the SHS 2023, including those relating to climate change and the environment, will be published separately on the SHS Data Explorer on 2 December 2024.

Official statistics are produced in line with the ‘Code of Practice for Statistics’.