Scotland's wellbeing economy monitor: July 2025

Footnotes

1 Wellbeing Economy Monitor (2025) Scottish Government

2 National Performance Framework (2024) Scottish Government

3 Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (2022) Scottish Government

4 Wellbeing economy toolkit: supporting place based economic strategy and policy development (2022) Scottish Government

5 National Performance Framework (2024) Scottish Government

6 Towards a robust, resilient wellbeing economy for Scotland (2020) Advisory Group on Economic Recovery

7 Economic Recovery Implementation Plan: Scottish Government response to the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery (2020) Scottish Government

8 Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) (2019) Scottish Government

9 Good for People (2025) Living Wage Foundation

10 The estimate for 2024 is provisional and estimates are subject to sampling variability. The data is employees on adult rates whose pay was not affected by absence unless furloughed. Due to methodological changes, estimates for 2023 and 2024 might not be directly comparable to estimates for 2022 and earlier years. Estimates for 2020 and 2021 are subject to more uncertainty, and should be treated with caution due to the impact of COVID-19 on data collection. In 2021, SOC codes were changed from SOC 2010 to SOC 2020.

11 The Health Effects of Income Inequality (2016) PubMed

12 Income inequality and health: A causal review (2015) Social Science & Medicine

13 Covid Recovery Strategy: for a fairer future (2021) Scottish Government

14 Fair Work in Scotland Report (2020) Fair Work Convention

15 Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (2022) Scottish Government

16 From 2021, occupation coding was changed to Standard Occupation Coding (SOC) 2020 from 2010, and as a result estimates for 2021 earnings represent a break in the time series. Estimates from 2021 onwards are not directly comparable with earnings on a SOC 2010 basis, and this should not be compared with each other. The estimate for 2024 is provisional. Employees are on adult rates – pay is unaffected by absence unless furloughed. Due to methodological changes, estimates for 2023 and 2024 might not be directly comparable to estimates for 2022 and earlier years. Estimates for 2020 and 2021 are subject to more uncertainty and should be treated with caution due to the impact of COVID-19 on data collection.

17 Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 (2024) Scottish Government

18 Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020 (2020) MarineScotland

19 State of Nature (2023) State of Nature Partnership

20 Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (2022) Scottish Government

21 Beyond the averages: the relationship between higher education and wellbeing (2022) What Works Wellbeing

22 Good for People (2025) Living Wage Foundation

23 Estimate is provisional. Employees on adult rates whose pay was not affected unless furloughed. Workplace based analysis. Estimates are subject to sampling variability.

24 A Connected Scotland: our strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness and building stronger social connections (2018) Scottish Government

25 Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act (2019) Legislation.gov.uk

26 Social isolation and loneliness: Recovering our Connections 2023 to 2026 (2023) Scottish Government

27 Social capital and community wellbeing in Scotland (2024) Scottish Government

28 Covid Recovery Strategy: for a fairer future (2021) Scottish Government

29 Fair Work in Scotland (2020) Fair Work Convention

30 Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (2022) Scottish Government

31 Estimate for 2024 is provisional. Employees are on adult rates, pay is unaffected by absence unless furloughed.

32 Better Life Index (2025) OECD

33 Delivering Scotland’s circular economy – proposed Circular Economy Bill: consultation (2022) Scottish Government

34 Understanding the links between children’s mental health and socio-economic status (2020) What Works Wellbeing

35 Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (2022) Scottish Government

36 Beyond the averages: the relationship between higher education and wellbeing (2022) What Works Wellbeing

37 A full list of the cultural events and places of culture included in this measure can be found in Annex C of the Cultural Engagement in Scotland report.

38 A full list of the cultural activities included in this measure can be found in Annex C of the Cultural Engagement in Scotland report.