National Volunteering Profile
Latest findings from the Scottish Household Survey (2022–2025)
Volunteering in Scotland is changing. More people are volunteering, but volunteers are giving fewer hours overall. Explore how participation, hours and economic value have shifted between 2022 and 2025.
Please note: These figures are provisional estimates based on the summary data currently available from the Scottish Household Survey. When the full dataset is released, we will update the calculations to reflect the actual hours volunteered.
Scotland's profile of volunteering
52% of adults in Scotland volunteered in 2025 – that’s over 2.4 million people. This overall figure combines those who volunteered formally (providing unpaid help through an organisation or group) with those who volunteered informally (helping someone who is not a friend or relative) in the last year.
In 2025 in Scotland, formal and informal volunteers contributed (provisional):
282 million hours of help
131 million formal volunteering hours and 151 million informal volunteering hours (rounded to the nearest whole million)
£6.0 billion to the local economy
£2.8 billion from formal volunteering and £3.2 billion from informal volunteering (rounded to the nearest £100 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 2022. A lot has changed since then.
The data from 2025 shows some important shifts in volunteering in Scotland. The percentage of adults who volunteered in any capacity increased from 46% in 2022 to 52% in 2025.
Changes in participation rates (2022 - 2025)
Formal volunteering increased from 22% to 27%, and informal volunteering increased from 36% to 39%. This means more people are choosing to volunteer in structured roles and more people are helping informally in their communities. Together, these shifts drove the overall participation rate up from 46% in 2022 to 52% in 2025.
More volunteers
- Formal volunteers: 980,000 → 1,250,000
- Informal volunteers: 1,640,000 → 1,840,000
However, volunteers are giving fewer hours per person. This means more people are volunteering, but each person is giving less time.
18.2 million fewer hours of help overall
- Formal hours increased slightly (122.1m → 130.8m)
- Informal hours decreased significantly (178m → 151m)
- Total hours: 300.1m → 281.8m
An increase of £0.7 billion to the local economy
- Formal volunteering: £2.15bn → £2.79bn
- Informal volunteering: £3.14bn → £3.33bn
- Total value: £5.3bn → £6.0bn
Economic value of volunteering (2022 → 2025)
Despite the drop in total hours, the economic value of volunteering has increased.
This increase is driven by wage growth. Volunteer hours are valued using the Scottish median weekly wage, which has risen significantly since 2022. Higher wage rates increase the value of each volunteer hour, even when total hours fall.
Why hours and value can move in different directions
More volunteers giving fewer hours – but each hour is worth more.
Example pattern with illustrative figures
(2022 to 2025)
- Volunteers: 1,000 → 1,200
- Hours per volunteer: 10 → 7
- Total hours: 10,000 → 8,400
- Value per hour: £514.60 → £621.50
- Simple economic value: £5,146,000 → £5,220,600
Here’s how this works with SHS Data
Informal breakdown:
- Volunteers: 1.64m → 1.84m
- Hours per volunteer per year: 108.8 → 82.1
- Total hours per year: 178m → 151m
- Value per hour: £514.60 → £621.50
- Economic Value: £3.14bn → £3.22bn
The example shows how economic value can rise even when hours fall.
These figures are provisional estimates based on the summary data currently available from the Scottish Household Survey. When the full dataset is released, we will update the calculations to reflect the actual hours volunteered.
The Scottish Household Survey currently provides summary tables for volunteering hours. These tables group hours into bands (for example, 1-5hours or 6-10 hours). Because the raw microdata is not yet available, we estimate hours using the mid-point of each band.
- 1-5 hours → 3 hours
- 6-10 hours → 8 hours
When the raw SHS microdata becomes available, we will calculate the actual mean hours volunteered. The true mean may be higher or lower that the mid-point, which, means the final estimate of total hours – and therefore the economic value – may increase or decrease accordinly.
Example: Hour-band 1-5hours
- Mid-point estimate: 3hours
- If most people actually did 1-2hours → mean might be 1.8→ hours go down
- If most people did 4-5hours → mean might be 4.4 → hours go up
The total numbers of hours volunteered, along with the economic value of this contribution, are calculated using:
- Participation rates, frequency and intensity data from the Scottish Household Survey
- Mid‑year population estimates and the average Scottish weekly wage from National Records of Scotland
For Local authority level data please see the volunteering tables in the Scottish Household Survey 2025 supporting documents. For any further queries please contact us at research@volunteercotland.org.uk