Scottish Household Survey 2021 - telephone survey: key findings

7. Environment

Climate change

There has been an increase in the proportion of adults viewing climate change as an immediate and urgent problem, from 80% in 2020 to 83% in 2021 (Table 7.1).

By age group, the largest increase is amongst those aged 75+, increasing from 69% in 2020 to 76% in 2021 (Table 7.5). However, this is still lower than the results for all other age groups which range from 82 to 86%.

Women remain more likely than men to view climate change as an immediate and urgent problem, although the gap has narrowed; 84% compared to 82% in 2021 and 82% compared to 77% in 2020 (Table 7.6).

In 2021, 90% of adults with a degree or professional qualification perceived climate change as an immediate and urgent problem, compared to 69% for adults with no qualifications (Table 7.2). For adults with a degree or professional qualification this proportion was similar to the previous year (89% in 2020) but for adults with no qualifications this was a notable increase from 59% in 2020.

Visiting the outdoors

More than seven in ten adults (71%) visited the outdoors at least once a week in 2021, a decrease from 79% in 2020 (Table 7.11). The higher figure for 2020 may partly reflect the impacts of Covid – for example, the reduced range of other recreational options available due to restrictions at the time. It should also be noted that figures for 2021 were collected over a whole year (April 2021 to March 2022) whereas the 2020 figures were collected over a shorter period (October 2020 to March 2021) and the frequency of people's visits to the outdoors may vary over the course of a year.

The proportion of adults visiting the outdoors at least weekly in 2021 was lower for older age groups (58% for those age 75+ compared to 77% for those age 35-44) (Table 7.15). For all age categories 16-59 the proportion was more than seven in ten. Similar proportions were recorded for women (70%) and men (72%) (Table 7.16).

Adults who reported their general health to be bad or very bad were less likely to visit the outdoors at least weekly (41%) than those reporting good or very good general health (76%) (Table 7.17). Furthermore, disabled adults were less likely to visit the outdoors at least weekly (58%) than non-disabled adults (75%) (Table 7.18).

Adults living in the 20% most deprived areas, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) were less likely to have visited the outdoors at least weekly (56%) compared to those in the 20% least deprived areas (79%) (Table 7.13). For the 20% most deprived areas, this was a drop from 68% in 2020 but for the 20% least deprived areas the proportion was more similar to 2020 (83%). This suggests that those in the most deprived areas have seen a greater reduction in their visits to the outdoors than their more advantaged counterparts as Covid restrictions eased.

Adults in the 20% most deprived areas were also more likely not to have visited the outdoors at all in 2021 (12%) than those in the 20% least deprived areas (3%) (Table 7.13).

The proportion of adults visiting the outdoors at least weekly was highest in remote small towns (82%) and lowest in large urban areas (68%) (Table 7.14).

Access to green and blue space

Most adults (70%) reported living within a five minute walk of their nearest area of green or blue space in 2021, around the same proportion as 2020 (68%) (Table 7.21). This proportion was lower for adults in the 20% most deprived areas (62%) compared to other areas (all 70% or above) (Table 7.22). This proportion was also lower for adults in large urban areas (64%), particularly when compared to adults in remote rural areas (80%) (Table 7.23).

In 2021 half of adults (51%) visited their nearest area of green or blue space every day or several times a week (Table 7.30). Frequency of visits was lower amongst disabled people or those who reported poorer general health. Adults who reported their health to be bad or very bad were less likely to visit their nearest green or blue space every day or several times a week (30%) than those who reported their general health to be good or very good (54%) (Table 7.35). The most frequent visiting was also lower amongst disabled people (40%) compared to non-disabled people (54%) (Table 7.36).

Those who lived closer to their nearest green or blue space were more likely to use it more frequently: 59% of those living within five minutes' walk visited every day or several times a week compared to 17% of the smaller proportion living more than ten minutes' walk away (Table 7.39). Furthermore, the proportion of people who lived more than ten minutes' walk from their nearest green or blue space and who did not use it at all (27%) was more than double the corresponding proportion of people who lived within five minutes' walk (11%).

Most adults (81%) were very or fairly satisfied with their nearest area of green or blue space in 2021 (Table 7.51). Satisfaction with their nearest green or blue space was highest amongst those who rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live (86%) compared to those who rated their neighbourhood as very poor (45%) (Table 7.41). More than half of adults who reported being very or fairly satisfied with their nearest green or blue space in 2021 visited it every day or several times a week (56%) compared to 40% of those who reported being very or fairly dissatisfied with this space (Table 7.42).