Future Trends for Scotland: findings from the 2024-2025 horizon scanning project

5. Scottish Public Views on Scotland’s Long-term Future

The Horizon Scanning project has also attempted to gather some insight into the views of the wider Scottish public on the long-term future. In July 2024, polling by YouGov for the Scottish Government asked a representative sample of the Scottish public about their views on a series of questions about the future.167 Questions were developed by the Scottish Government with the survey implemented on our behalf by YouGov. The sample is demographically and geographically representative of online adults 18+ across Scotland, with 1,047 responses in July 2024.168

The polling found that:

• The public were most optimistic about future technology – 37% agreed that this will have more positive than negative impacts overall.
• The public were least optimistic about Scottish businesses and public services, with just 17% and 14% saying that these are well-prepared for future challenges respectively.
• 30% agreed that life in Scotland will be better in 20 years’ time, while 33% disagreed.
• Younger people (18-34) are more positive about the long-term future, with higher agreement than other ages with all statements.
• People in lower socio-economic grades were less optimistic about the future. When asked whether they feel personally positive about the long-term future, 21% of respondents in the DE social grades agreed compared with 33% among people in the AB social grades.169
• For all statements, a large proportion of respondents did not express a view, or said they did not know.