Scottish Household Survey Statistics 2023 - Volunteering
This publication contains key findings from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) 2023 relating to volunteering. The 2023 SHS asked respondents about any formal volunteering (giving unpaid help to organisations or groups) that they had undertaken during the previous 12 months. Questions on informal volunteering are asked every two years in the SHS and were asked in 2022.
In 2023, 18% of respondents said they had undertaken formal volunteering.
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.
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). 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.
