Scotland’s Carers – March 2024 Update Release

This is an update to the headline figure of the Scotland’s Carers publication and the subsequent Update Releases, the latest of which was published in December 2022.  It is intended to give users the latest up to date estimates on the number of carers living in Scotland.

As these estimates are based on the Scottish Health Survey, which is a sample survey, it is important to note that these estimates have associated confidence intervals which need to be taken into consideration. Confidence intervals span the range of values in which the true value is likely to lie.

While different surveys provide different estimates of unpaid carers, the number of carers living in Scotland is estimated to be around 700,000 to 800,000. The latest figures based on the Scottish Health Survey show an estimated total of around 696,000 carers (+/-55,000) living in Scotland, including 28,000 young carers. This is the same as the previous 2017-2021 estimate.

The methodology used to obtain these estimates is the same as previously used in the Scotland’s Carers publication, which allows for consistency and ensures that young carers are included. More information on how this estimate was calculated can be found in the Background section.

The latest figures from the Scottish Health Survey 2018-2022 combined also show that for people aged 16 and over, 17% of females and 12% of males are carers. People are more likely to be providing unpaid care in their later working years – especially females. Over a quarter (26%) of females aged 45-54 and females aged 55-64 provided unpaid care in 2018-2022 combined.

Figures from the Scottish Health Survey 2018-2022 combined also show that around two-thirds of unpaid carers (66%) were providing up to 19 hours of unpaid care per week on average. However, 16% were providing 50 or more hours of unpaid care per week on average.

For more detailed analysis on carers living in Scotland, including information on health and wellbeing, please refer to Scotland’s Carers.