Trends in Rural Scotland: a working paper (2025)

9. Social justice

Proportion (%) of people in each category who are in relative poverty (below 60% of UK median income after housing costs)

Overall poverty and child poverty rates have been lower in rural areas in Scotland compared to urban areas since 2006-09. Poverty rates in rural areas have been relatively stable over this period. It is hard to interpret trends from 2018-21 with certainty as surveying adequate numbers of households was not possible during the pandemic.

Residence based median gross annual pay for full-time employees

The residence based median gross annual pay for full-time employees has been consistently higher in accessible rural areas than the rest of Scotland from 2007-2020. In 2020 these figures were £34,311 for accessible rural areas and £31,531 for the rest of Scotland. However remote rural areas fall behind at £29,652 as of 2020. Nonetheless across all areas, these figures are increasing.

Levels of fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty

Fuel poverty is higher in rural areas. In 2022, an estimated 35% of households were fuel poor in rural areas. This is higher than the estimates for all Scottish households at 31%, and for urban households at 30%. Additionally, the rate of fuel poverty for remote rural households (47%) is higher than for all other areas.

Perceptions of influence over decisions affecting local area

In 2022, 21% of people in rural areas felt they had influence over decisions affecting their local area compared to 17% in urban areas.