# Life in the UK: Scotland 2024. A measure of Scotland's collective wellbeing

[The Life in the UK index](https://carnegieuk.org/publication/life-in-the-uk-2024/) is designed to measure the collective wellbeing of the people of the UK, looking at social, economic, environmental, and democratic aspects of life. This publication outlines Scotland’s scores for collective, social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing. The research is based on a representative survey of over 1,100 people from Scotland.  It presents key findings in relation to how different demographics are living across Scotland.    

Key findings include:

*   **Wellbeing in stagnation:** Our research found no improvement in wellbeing across any of our headline measures for the people of Scotland.
*   **Deep inequalities:** People on lower incomes, disabled people and people under the age of 55 experience the lowest levels of wellbeing.
*   **Democratic crisis:** Trust in government and politics has reached a record low, with over three quarters of people in Scotland feeling they have no influence over decisions that impact the UK. Carnegie UK urges both the London and Edinburgh governments to work on rebuilding public confidence by offering more meaningful public participation opportunities in decision-making.

Our Life in the UK Index shows that we can create a robust and comprehensive measure of social progress, rather than rely on GDP alone. The evidence provides a baseline for policymakers to address the challenges facing Scotland.

---

## About SCVO

SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector.

Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector.

Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners.

Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities.

SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience.

Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org).

For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)