National Volunteering Profile
Latest findings from the Scottish Household Survey (2022)
Find out how many of us volunteered in Scotland, along with the number of hours of help given and economic value of this contribution.
Scotland's profile of volunteering
46% of adults in Scotland have volunteered, that’s over 2.1 million people. This overall figure combines those who’ve volunteered formally (providing unpaid help through an organisation or group) with those who’ve volunteered informally (helping someone who is not a friend or relative) in the last year.
In 2022 in Scotland, formal and informal volunteers contributed:
300 million hours of help
122 million formal volunteering hours and 178 million informal volunteering hours (numbers have been rounded to the nearest half a million).
5.3 billion to local economy
£2.2 billion from formal volunteering and £3.1 billion from informal volunteering (numbers have been rounded to the nearest million).
The changing nature of Scotland’s profile of volunteering
The last time we had data from the Scottish Household Survey to calculate Scotland’s profile of volunteering was 2018. A lot has changed since then.
The data from 2022 shows us some big changes to volunteering in Scotland. The percentage of adults in Scotland who have volunteered dropped from 48% in 2018 to 46% in 2022. That two percent might not seem like a huge drop, but it equates to:
61 million fewer hours of help
28 million fewer formal hours of help and 33 million fewer informal hours of help in 2022 than in 2018 (numbers have been rounded to the nearest half a million).
A decrease of £132 million to the local economy
£99.6 million less from formal volunteering and £32.4 million less from informal volunteering in 2022 than in 2018 (numbers have been rounded to the nearest million).
That’s a big loss for Scottish society. When we consider inflation, the impact is even bigger.
The calculation that volunteers contributed £5.3 billion to the local economy in 2022 is based on the average wage in Scotland 2022. Wages have risen from an average weekly wage of £438.60 in 2018 to £514.60 in 2022 (excluding overtime). The increase in average wages alongside a drop in volunteering hours obscures the extent of the drop in economic value of volunteering in Scotland, so we’ve calculated what the economic value of volunteering in 2022 would be with 2018 wages.
Had wages remained at 2018 levels, in 2022 there is a:
A decrease of £914 million to the local economy from volunteering
£418 million decrease to the local economy from formal volunteering and a £495 million decrease in informal volunteering (numbers have been rounded to the nearest million ).
Note: Data on the economic value of volunteering is only available on a 2 year basis.
The total numbers of hours volunteered along with the economic value of this contribution are calculated the following sources:
- Participation rates, frequency and intensity data from the Scottish Household Survey
- The mid year population estimates and the average Scottish weekly wage, from the National Records of Scotland.
For Local authority level data please see the volunteering tables in the Scottish Household Survey 2022 supporting documents .For any further queries please contact us at research@volunteercotland.org.uk