Volunteering

Volunteering rates

In 2024, 48% of respondents reported taking part in volunteering of any kind (formal or informal) (Table 33). The percentage of respondents who said they had undertaken formal volunteering in 2024 had increased to 25% from 18% in 2023 (Table 1). The direction of change is in contrast to the longer-term picture which shows a decrease over time from 2011 to 2023. The reported rate of formal volunteering in 2024 is in line with the rate in 2019 (pre COVID-19) when it was 26%. 

The last time a question was asked on informal volunteering was 2022. In 2024, 36% of respondents said they had undertaken some kind of informal volunteering and 22% said they had only undertaken informal volunteering (Table 33). 14% said they had undertaken both formal and informal volunteering over the past 12 months (Table 33). 

Figure 1: Nearly half of respondents said they had taken part in formal or informal volunteering 

Percentage of respondents reporting volunteering

Note: percentages are rounded to nearest whole number; overall formal volunteering rate remains at 25%.

Types of volunteering 

The SHS also asked about the types of organisations or groups adults had volunteered with. In line with 2023, the two most common types of organisation or group was ‘local community and neighbourhood’ (24% of respondents who had undertaken formal volunteering) and ‘Youth or children's activities outside school’ (21%) (Table 12).

Similar percentages of respondents said they had volunteered for organisations working on ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (17%), ‘Religion and belief’ (16%), ‘Children’s education and schools’ (14%), ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ (13%),  and ‘Hobbies and recreation’ (13%) (Table 12).

The most common informal volunteering activity was ‘keeping in touch with someone who is at risk of being lonely’ – 62% of respondents who said they had done informal volunteering had done this (Table 23). This was followed by ‘Doing shopping, collecting pension, collecting benefits or paying bills’ (36%); ‘Providing transport or accompanying someone away from home’ (34%); and ‘Routine household chores e.g. cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening’ (28%) (Table 23).

Volunteering by sex

A similar proportion of female (27%) and male (24%) respondents reported they had undertaken formal volunteering in the past year (Table 3). Females and males were also equally likely to report having undertaken any type of volunteering (Table 35). 

Females were more likely than males to report volunteering with organisations involved in ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ (16% compared with 9%). On the other hand, males were more likely than females to report volunteering with organisations involved in ‘physical activity, sport and exercise’ (24% compared with 12%) (Table 14).

Females were more likely than males to report undertaking ‘babysitting or looking after children’ (21% compared to 14%) and ‘helping with personal care’ (10% compared to 6%). However, males were more likely than females to help with ‘Car or home maintenance or repairs’ (22% compared to 5%) (Table 24).

Volunteering and age

Different age groups were equally likely to report having undertaken formal volunteering in the last year with roughly 1 in 4 respondents saying they had volunteered in the last 12 months (Table 2). However, the types of formal volunteering that different age groups undertook varied. For example, older volunteers (those aged 60 or over) were more likely than younger volunteers (those aged 16 to 34) to report supporting ‘local community or neighbourhood’, ‘religion and belief’, ‘hobbies and recreation’, ‘groups aimed at supporting older people’ and ‘culture and heritage’ organisations (Table 13).

There were also some differences across age groups with regard to the types of informal volunteering. Older respondents aged 60 or over were more likely to report helping with ‘keeping in touch with someone who is at risk of being lonely’ than younger people aged 16 to 34 (69% compared with 58%) (Table 23). On the other hand, younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to have offered help with ‘babysitting or looking after children’ (24% compared with 10%) and ‘helping someone else to improve a skill’ (22% compared to 11%) (Table 23). 

Income, deprivation and volunteering

People living in less deprived areas (as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation – SIMD) were more likely to have reported any type of volunteering than those living in most deprived areas (54% compared to 38%) (Table 39). 17% of people living in the 20% most deprived areas reported engaging in formal volunteering compared to 31% of people living in the 20% least deprived areas (Table 7). There was no difference in rates of informal volunteering only between those in the least deprived areas (23%) compared to those in the most deprived areas (22%) (Table 39).

Similarly, people living in higher income households were more likely than those living in lower income households to have reported undertaking formal volunteering. 29% of respondents living in households with a net annual income of over £30,000 said they had undertaken formal volunteering in the previous 12 months, compared with 20% of people living in households earning more than £15,000 and less than £30,000 and 19% of people living in households earning £15,000 or less (Table 11).

There was also some variation by types volunteering. For example, those reporting to have undertaken formal volunteering and from households earning over £30,000 were more likely than households earning less to report supporting ‘children’s education and schools’ or ‘youth or children’s activities outside school’ (Table 22).

Rural/urban location and volunteering

Volunteering is more common in rural areas than other areas. 57% of respondents living in rural areas reported undertaking some kind of volunteering compared to 46% of those living in the rest of Scotland (Table 41). Similarly, 32% of respondents in rural areas said they had done formal volunteering in 2024, compared with 24% of those living other areas (Table 9). People who reported engaging in formal volunteering and who lived in rural areas were more likely to volunteer for ‘local community or neighbourhood’ organisations (36%) than people in the rest of Scotland (21%) (Table 20). Similarly, those in rural areas were more likely than those living in the rest of Scotland to report engaging in some informal volunteering activities including ‘Providing transport or accompanying someone away from home’ and ‘Helping to improve your local environment’ (Table 30).

Volunteering and disability

Disabled respondents (a disability is defined as a long-term limiting physical or mental health condition) [1] were less likely to say they had undertaken any type of volunteering (formal or informal) in the past 12 months than those with no disability (40% compared with 50%) (Table 38). Disabled respondents were also less likely than non-disabled respondents to report volunteering formally (18% compared with 28%) (Table 6). 

Disabled people who had reported formal volunteering were more likely than non-disabled people to volunteer with organisations working on ‘health, disability and wellbeing’ (21% compared with 11%). Whereas non-disabled people were more likely than disabled people to have reported volunteering with organisations/groups working on ‘physical activity, sport and exercise’ (19% compared with 10%) and ‘children’s education and schools’ (15% compared with 7%) (Table 17).

Volunteering and ethnicity

‘White: Other British’ were more likely than all other ethnic groups to have reported undertaking any type of volunteering (Table 37). For example, 56% of ‘White: Other British’ respondents reported undertaking some kind of volunteering compared to 37% of ‘Minority Ethnic Group’ respondents (Table 37).

34% of adults from the ‘White: Other British’ ethnic group reported undertaking formal volunteering over the previous 12 months (Table 5). This percentage was higher than adults with an ethnic group of ‘White: Scottish’ (24%). Other ethnicities, including ‘White: Other’ (24%) and ‘Minority Ethnic Groups’ (26%) had similar levels of formal volunteering rates. (Table 5).

The most common type of formal volunteering differed across ethnic groups. For example, ‘Minority Ethnic’ respondents most commonly reported undertaking volunteering in organisations focused on religion and belief (32%), ‘White: Other’ respondents most commonly reported volunteering with ‘Children’s education and schools’ (22%) and both ‘White: Scottish’ and ‘White: Other British’ most commonly ‘Local community or neighbourhood’ organisations (24% and 29%) (Table 16).