Neighbourhoods and communities 2023: Scottish Household Survey findings

Introduction

Scottish Household Survey

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is an annual survey of the general population in Scotland, carried out since 1999. It aims to collect reliable and up-to-date information on a range of topics, through a random sample of people in private residences. It is a voluntary and interviewer-led survey. In 2023, as is typical, the SHS was carried out as a face-to-face interview, primarily administered in people’s homes. The 2023 methodology and fieldwork outcomes report provides details of the methods used.

Prior to 2023, results from the SHS were published in one key findings report split into chapters by topic area. From 2023 onwards a new approach to reporting is being undertaken with individual topic reports being published. The full set of SHS 2023 data tables was published via the SHS Data Explorer on 2 December 2024.

This publication contains the key findings of the questions relating to Neighbourhoods and Communities (See Annex A for further information on the Scottish Household Survey).^[1]

Throughout this report, tables are referenced. These are published in Excel format as supporting documents to the report, and include specific results for groups in the population (e.g. urban and rural areas). Some of the differences between groups may be due to random sampling variation i.e. chance. Similarly, some apparent differences between 2022 and 2023 results may occur by chance. We use standard statistical tests of significance to determine the likelihood of differences being due to chance. When this report refers to differences between groups or years, these differences are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level unless explicitly stated otherwise. Some differences between groups in the Excel tables that appear large may not be mentioned in this report, because they are not statistically significant.

Please note percentages in this report have been rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result of this calculated differences or changes may be out compared to the difference between the stated percentages.

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.

Neighbourhoods and Communities

This report looks at experiences of neighbourhoods and communities. It gives key findings on neighbourhoods (ratings of neighbourhoods as a good place to live), communities (how people feel about their neighbours and other features of their neighbourhoods), neighbourhood problems, and neighbourhood safety.^[2] The neighbourhood survey questions are in Annex C.

10,540 households were interviewed for the SHS 2023 survey, between February 2023 and early February 2024. Given the fieldwork period, questions that relate to social contact, and areas of community life that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, may continue to be affected by the repercussions of the pandemic, including changes to work, recreation, commerce, the design of public services, community social infrastructure, public transport and more. This report does not directly consider the impact of these factors on the results, but it may be useful to bear this in mind when reading the report.

In 2022, there were signs of improvement in neighbourhood connections following the COVID pandemic, with people feeling more positively than in 2018/2019 about their neighbourhoods and neighbours. There were also less positive changes, such as increased loneliness.^[3]

This summary report will consider neighbourhoods and communities in 2023. It will set out the national figures, key differences between different people and places in Scotland, and notable changes from 2022.^[4]

National Performance Framework – Communities Outcome

In the Scottish Government our national outcomes describe the kind of Scotland we want to see. For our communities outcome, our broad vision is that we live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.

Two of the national performance indicators that measure progress against the communities outcome are:

1. Perception of local area

2. Places to interact

These two national indicators are reported on using the data from the SHS at national and sub-national levels. These figures have been presented in this report and the supplementary Excel tables.