Scottish household survey 2016: key findings

Neighbourhoods and communities

Scotland is a nice place to live

Ratings of neighbourhoods have been consistently high with over nine in ten adults viewing their neighbourhood as a very or fairly good place to live since 1999.

Since 2006 the proportion of adults rating their neighbourhood as:

• a very/fairly good place to live increased to 95%;
• a very good place to live increased to 57%.

This varies by level of area deprivation. Adults in less deprived areas are more likely to rate their neighbourhood as a very good place to live.

Although there is a large gap in neighbourhood ratings between those living in the most and least deprived areas, this gap is narrowing over time.

Most potential neighbourhood problems are not considered to be particularly common. The most common issue in 2016 was animal nuisance, reported as being common by 31%.

• 57% of adults rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live
• 3 in 4 adults would assist neighbours in an emergency
• Animal nuisance was reported as the most common neighbourhood problem (31%)