Volunteering - Scottish Household Survey Statistics, 2025

Volunteering

Volunteering rates

In 2025, 52% of respondents reported taking part in volunteering of any kind (formal or informal) which is an increase from 48% in 2024 (Table 33). Rates of informal and formal volunteering also increased between 2024 and 2025. The percentage of respondents who said they had undertaken formal volunteering in 2025 increased to 27% from 25% in 2024 (Table 1). The percentage of respondents who said they had undertaken informal volunteering in 2025 also increased to 39% from 36% in 2024 (Table 33). 

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

Percentage of respondents reporting volunteering 

n.b. percentages are rounded to nearest whole number; overall informal volunteering rate remains at 39%

Frequency and hours spent volunteering 

Respondents who reported taking part in formal or informal volunteering were asked how frequently they volunteered and how many hours they spent volunteering in the last month. Of those who reported undertaking formal volunteering, 70% of respondents reported doing this at least once a month (Table 44). Those aged 60 or over were more likely to report doing formal volunteering more frequently than those aged 16 to 34. For example, 32% of those aged 60 or over reported doing formal volunteering ‘About once a week’ compared to 24% of those aged 16 to 34 (Table 44). Conversely, those aged 16 to 34 were more likely to report doing formal volunteering ‘Less than once a month’ compared to those aged 60 or over (37% versus 20%). Of those who reported undertaking informal volunteering, respondents most commonly reported doing this ‘About once a week’ (29%) or ‘Less than once a week but at least once a month’ (28%) (Table 68).  

The total number of hours spent doing volunteering in the last month was most commonly reported as ‘Between 1 and 5 hours’; 31% of respondents who had undertaken formal volunteering chose this option (Table 46) and 43% of respondents who had undertaken informal volunteering chose this option (Table 70). 

Types of Volunteering 

The 2025 SHS asked about the types of organisations or groups adults had volunteered with and the kinds of activities they do when giving help to these organisations or groups. The most common type of organisation or group, to which respondents provided unpaid help was ‘Local community and neighbourhood’ (26% of respondents who reported having undertaken formal volunteering). This was followed by ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (19%), ‘Youth or children's activities outside school’ (19%) and ‘Children’s education and schools’ (18%) (Table 12). 

Over half (55%) of respondents who reported having undertaken formal volunteering reported ‘Generally helping out as required’ as the most common type of formal volunteering activity (Table 48). This was followed by ‘Acting as a committee member or as a Trustee’ (23%), ‘Providing education, training or coaching to develop people’s skills’ (23%), and ‘Fundraising’ (20%) (Table 48).

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 undertaken informal volunteering reported having done this (Table 23). This was followed by ‘Doing shopping, collecting pension, collecting benefits or paying bills’ (33%); ‘Providing transport or accompanying someone away from home’ (32%); and ‘Routine household chores e.g. cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening’ (26%) (Table 23).

Volunteering in the future 

Of the respondents who said they had not given unpaid help to clubs or organisations in the last 12 months, 29% said they had given unpaid help to an organisation or group previously (Table 50). Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to report previously providing unpaid help to organisations or groups (32% compared with 26%) (Table 51). 

The majority (70%) of those who reported not doing any formal volunteering in the last 12 months reported that nothing would encourage them to do so (Table 59). Of the other options, respondents most commonly reported that ‘Other’ things (10%) would encourage respondents to provide unpaid help to organisations or groups in the future followed by ‘If I knew how my time/skills could help others’ (6%) (Table 59). 

Volunteering by sex

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

Of those who reported undertaking formal volunteering, female respondents were more likely than male respondents to report volunteering with organisations involved in ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ (16% compared with 11%). On the other hand, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to report volunteering with organisations involved in ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (24% compared with 15%) and those focused on ‘Hobbies and recreation’ (18% compared with 10%) (Table 14). There were also some differences in the types of activities male and female respondents reported doing whilst helping these organisations. For example, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to report ‘Acting as a committee member or as a Trustee’ (28% compared to 19%). Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to report ‘Fundraising’ (22% versus 18%) (Table 49). 

Of those who reported undertaking informal volunteering, female respondents were more likely than male respondents to report undertaking ‘Babysitting or looking after children’ (20% compared to 10%) and ‘Doing shopping, collecting pension, collecting benefits or paying bills’ (37% compared to 29%). However, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to help with ‘Car or home maintenance or repairs’ (20% compared to 5%) (Table 24). 

Volunteering and age

Respondents aged 35 to 59 were more likely than respondents aged 60 or over to report having undertaken volunteering of any kind in the last year (54% compared to 50%) (Table 34). Respondents aged 35 to 59 were also more likely to report having undertaken volunteering of any kind in the last year, compared to respondents aged 16 to 34 (54% compared to 50%) (Table 34). 

Respondents aged 35 to 59 were also more likely than respondents aged 16 to 34 and 60 or over to report doing formal volunteering in the last year (30% compared to 25% for both) (Table 2). The types of organisations or groups that respondents reported undertaking formal volunteering with also varied across age groups. For example, respondents aged 16 to 34 were more likely than respondents aged 60 or over to report supporting ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (22% compared to 13%) and ‘Youth or children’s activities outside school’ (22% compared to 9%) (Table 13). In contrast, respondents aged 60 or over were more likely than respondents aged 16 to 34 to report supporting ‘Local community or neighbourhood’ (36% compared to 17%) and ‘Religion and belief’ organisations or groups (24% compared to 10%) (Table 13). 

When asked about types of formal volunteering activities, respondents aged 60 or over were more likely than respondents aged 16 to 34 to report ‘Acting as a committee member’ (34% versus 12%) and ‘Office or administrative work’ (20% compared to 9%) (Table 48). In contrast, respondents aged 16 to 34 were more likely than respondents aged 60 or over to report ‘Providing education, training or coaching to develop people’s skills (30% compared to 14%) (Table 48). 

There were also some differences across age groups with regard to the types of informal volunteering activities. 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 respondents aged 16 to 34 (67% compared with 57%) (Table 23). On the other hand, respondents aged 16 to 34 were more likely than respondents aged 60 or over to have offered help with ‘Routine household chores e.g. cooking, cleaning, laundry or gardening’ (29% compared with 20%) and ‘Babysitting or looking after children’ (19% compared with 8%) (Table 23). 

Income, deprivation and volunteering

Respondents living in the least 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 the most deprived areas (59% compared to 41%) (Table 39). In 2025, 17% of respondents living in the 20% most deprived areas reported engaging in formal volunteering compared to 34% of respondents living in the 20% least deprived areas (Table 7). 

Similarly, respondents living in higher income households were more likely than respondents living in lower income households to have reported undertaking any type of volunteering (Table 43). Respondents living in households with a net annual income of over £30,000 were more likely than both respondents living in households with a net annual income of £15,000 or less and respondents living in households with a net annual income of more than £15,000 and less than £30,000 to say they had undertaken formal volunteering in the previous 12 months (31% compared to 19% and 21% respectively) (Table 11). The types of organisations or groups that respondents reported undertaking formal volunteering with also varied by household income. For example, respondents from households with a net annual income of over £30,000 were more likely than respondents from households with a net annual income of £15,000 or less to report supporting ‘Children’s education and schools’ or ‘Youth or children’s activities outside school’ (Table 22). Respondents from households with a net annual income of more than £15,000 and less than £30,000 were more likely than respondents from households with a net annual income of over £30,000 to report helping ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ organisations (21% compared to 11%) and ‘Local community or neighbourhood’ organisations (33% compared with 25%) (Table 22). 

Similarly, there were differences in the types of informal volunteering activities reported by respondents who had undertaken informal volunteering. Respondents from households with a net annual income of £15,000 or less were more likely than respondents from households with a net annual income more than £30,000 to report ‘Keeping in touch with someone who is at risk of being lonely’ (67% compared to 61%). On the other hand, respondents from households with a net annual income more than £30,000 were more likely than those from households with a net annual income of £15,000 or less to report ‘Providing transport or accompanying someone away from home’ (34% compared to 20%) (Table 32). 

Rural/urban location and volunteering

In 2025, 59% of respondents living in ‘rural Scotland’ reported undertaking some kind of volunteering compared to 50% of those living in the ‘rest of Scotland’ 1 (Table 41). Similarly, 37% of respondents in ‘rural Scotland’ said they had undertaken formal volunteering in the past year, compared with 25% of respondents living in the ‘rest of Scotland’ (Table 9). Respondents who reported engaging in formal volunteering and who lived in ‘rural Scotland’ were more likely to report volunteering for ‘Local community or neighbourhood’ organisations than respondents in the ‘rest of Scotland’ (36% compared to 23%) (Table 20). Similarly, respondents who reported engaging in informal volunteering and who lived in ‘rural Scotland’ were more likely than respondents living in the ‘rest of Scotland’ to report engaging in some informal volunteering activities including ‘Car or home maintenance or repairs’ 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)2 were less likely to say they had undertaken any type of volunteering (formal or informal) in the past 12 months than respondents with no disability (46% compared with 53%) (Table 38). Disabled respondents were also less likely than non-disabled respondents to report doing formal volunteering (21% compared with 29%) (Table 6). 

Disabled respondents who had reported formal volunteering were more likely than non-disabled respondents to volunteer with organisations working on ‘Health, disability and wellbeing’ (21% compared with 12%) and organisations focused on ‘Local community or neighbourhood’ (31% compared with 25%) (Table 17). Non-disabled respondents were more likely than disabled respondents to have reported volunteering with organisations/groups working on ‘Physical activity, sport and exercise’ (21% compared with 12%) (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, 61% of ‘White: Other British’ respondents reported undertaking some kind of volunteering compared to 44% of ‘Minority Ethnic Group’ respondents (Table 37). ‘White: Other British’ respondents were also more likely than all other ethnic groups to have reported undertaking formal volunteering over the previous 12 months (Table 5). 

There were some differences with regards to the types of organisations or groups to which different ethnic groups had provided unpaid help. For example, ‘White: Scottish’ respondents who reported undertaking formal volunteering were more likely to report volunteering with ‘Youth or children’s activities outside school’ than both ‘White: Other’ respondents (21% compared to 14%) and ‘Minority Ethnic’ respondents (21% compared to 8%). ‘Minority Ethnic’ respondents most commonly reported undertaking volunteering in organisations focused on ‘Religion and belief’ (31%) and they were more likely to report this than all other ethnic groups (Table 16). 

Of those who reported undertaking informal volunteering, ‘White: Scottish’ respondents were more likely than ‘Minority Ethnic’ respondents to report ‘Doing shopping, collecting pension, collecting benefits or paying bills’ (34% compared to 17%). In contrast, ‘Minority Ethnic’ respondents were more likely than ‘White: Scottish’ respondents to report ‘Helping someone else to improve a skill’ (27% compared to 17%) (Table 26).