Scotland's Carers, 2026: Main Report

Key Points

This report illustrates the diversity of carers and their circumstances, as well as the variation across different sources reporting data on unpaid caring.

Age and sex of carers

Whilst the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) reports a higher overall proportion of carers (15% of the adult population) than Scotland’s Census 2022 (13%), both sources agree that the proportion of people providing care increases with age, with more women providing care than men.

• The proportion of the population providing care peaks at ages 55-64 (23% in the SHeS, 20% in the census), before decreasing after retirement age.
• The SHeS and census agree that more women provide care than men across most ages, except the youngest (4-15) and oldest (75+) age-groups.

Hours of care provided

The majority of carers provide up to 19 hours of care on average per week, with the census reporting more people providing higher intensity caring roles (35% of carers providing 35+ hours per week) than the SHeS (22%). Both sources do agree, however, that the distribution of hours of care provided is similar for men and women.

• Both the SHeS and the census agree that the largest proportion of carers provide up to 19 hours of care (9% of people aged 16+ in the SHeS, 7% in the census), compared to other, more intensive, caring roles.
• Carers aged 75+ are more likely than all other ages to provide up to 35+ hours of care. They are also the only age-group which is more likely to provide 35+ hours of care than other caring intensities, while all other age-groups are most likely to provide up to 19 hours of care.

Duration of care

According to the SHeS, medium-term caring roles are most common (6% of people providing care for between 1 and 5 years), while very short- and long-duration caring is comparatively rare.

• More women provide care across all durations than men, with the exception of those providing care for between 10-20 years, where the proportion was similar for men and women.
• The overall decrease in the proportion of people providing care between 2012-2013 (17%) and 2019-2023 (15%) is primarily driven by a reduction in those providing care for less than 1 year, and between 5 and 10 years.