Volunteering

Volunteering rates

In 2023, 18% of respondents said they had undertaken formal volunteering (Table 8.1). The percentage of respondents who said that they had undertaken formal volunteering had dropped since 2022, when 22% of respondents said they had done so (Table 8.1). The longer-term picture also shows a decrease: since 2011, the rate of formal volunteering had dropped by 12 percentage points (from 30% in 2011 to 18% in 2023) (Table 8.1). Most of this decrease has occurred since 2019 when the rate of formal volunteering was 26%. While these data do not provide insights into the reasons for the drop in formal volunteering between 2019 and 2023, it is likely that this is partly explained by residual or longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on formal volunteering participation.

Volunteering by sex

A higher proportion of women (20%) than men (17%) had undertaken formal volunteering in the past year (Table 8.3). 

Women were more likely than men to volunteer with organisations supporting ‘children’s education and schools’ (17% compared with 8%), ‘youth or children’s activities outside school’ (20% compared with 16%) and ‘health, disability and wellbeing’ (16% compared with 12%). On the other hand, men were more likely than women to volunteer with organisations involved in ‘physical activity, sport and exercise’ (20% compared with 9%) and ‘hobbies and recreation’ (12% compared with 7%).

Types of volunteering

The SHS also asked respondents about the types of organisations or groups adults had volunteered with. In 2023, the most common type of organisation or group was ‘local community and neighbourhood’ (28% of those who had undertaken formal volunteering). ‘Youth or children's activities outside school’ was the second most popular type of volunteering (18%) (Table 8.12). Similar percentages of respondents said they had volunteered for organisations working on ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ (14%), ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (14%), ‘Religion and belief’ (14%) and ‘Children’s education and schools’ (13%). 

The proportion of respondents who said they volunteered with ‘hobbies and recreation’ organisations had dropped from 15% in 2022 to 9% in 2023 (Table 8.12). There was also a decrease in people volunteering with ‘environmental protection’ organisations from 8% in 2022 to 5% in 2023. 

Volunteering and age

Overall, rates of formal volunteering were lower for those aged 16 to 34 (16%) than those aged 35 to 59 (20%) and those aged 60 and over (19%) (Table 8.2).

The types of volunteering that different age groups undertook varied more widely, however. For example, respondents who had volunteered formally and were aged 60 and over were more likely to have done so with ‘local community or neighbourhood’ organisations (36%) than those aged 16 to 34 (22%) or 35 to 59 (25%). Those aged 60 and over were also more likely to volunteer with ‘religion and belief’ organisations. Younger volunteers (aged 16 to 34 and 35 to 59) were more likely than older volunteers (aged 60 or over) to support organisations working with ‘children’s education and schools’ and ‘youth or children’s activities outside school’ (Table 8.13).

Income, deprivation and volunteering

People living in less deprived areas (as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation – SIMD) were more likely to undertake formal volunteering than those in more deprived areas. 12% of people living in the 20% most deprived areas had engaged in formal volunteering, lower than 24% of people living in the 20% least deprived areas.

Similarly, people living in higher income households were more likely than lower income households to have undertaken formal volunteering. 21% of respondents living in households with a net annual income of over £30,000 had undertaken formal volunteering in the previous 12 months, compared with 16% of people living in households earning more than £15,000 and less than £30,000 and 15% of people living in households earning £15,000 or less (Table 8.11).

Rural/urban location and volunteering

Volunteering is more common in rural areas than other areas. 23% of respondents living in rural areas said they had done formal volunteering in 2023, compared with 17% of those living other areas (Table 8.9). People who had done formal volunteering and who lived in rural areas were more likely to volunteer for ‘local community or neighbourhood’ organisations/groups (41%) than people in the rest of Scotland (24%) (Table 8.20). People living in remote rural areas were the most likely to engage in any type of volunteering (28%) (Table 8.10).

Volunteering and disability

Disabled respondents (a disability is defined as a long-term limiting physical or mental health condition) [1] were less likely to say they had undertaken formal volunteering in the past 12 months than those with no disability (16% compared with 19%). Disabled people who had done formal volunteering were more likely than non-disabled people to volunteer with organisations working on ‘health, disability and wellbeing’ (22% compared with 12%) and ‘local community or neighbourhood’ (33% compared with 27%). Whereas non-disabled people were more likely than disabled people to have volunteered with organisations/groups working on ‘physical activity, sport and exercise’ (16% compared with 8%) and ‘children’s activities outside school’ (20% compared with 13%) (Table 8.17).

Volunteering and ethnicity

24% of adults from the ‘White: Other British’ ethnic group had undertaken formal volunteering over the previous 12 months. This percentage was higher than adults with an ethnic group of ‘White: Scottish’ (18%), ‘White: Other’ (17%) and ‘Minority Ethnic Groups’ (17%), which all had similar levels of formal volunteering. People from ‘Minority Ethnic Groups’ who had volunteered were more likely than other ethnic groups to have done so in organisations focussed on religion and belief (Table 8.16).