Scottish volunteering rate increases following years of decline
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 24th September
Latest statistics have shown an increase in volunteering rates in Scotland, reversing a long-term trend of decline.
The Scottish Household Survey formal volunteering statistics show an increase from 18% in 2023 to 25% in 2024, a figure close to the 26% formal volunteering rate seen before the pandemic.
Overall, almost half of respondents said they had volunteered in some capacity, whether formally or informally, during the year. Local community initiatives and youth activities were amongst the most common ways people gave up their time.
This increase comes after volunteering rates were at the lowest ever recorded levels in 2023, with 335,000 fewer volunteers and 28 million fewer volunteer hours delivered between 2018 and 2023.
Volunteer Scotland, which earlier in the year had warned of a crisis in volunteering, said that the increase marked the "beginning of recovery”, but cautioned around the unequal nature of this recovery.
"Data shows that the gaps in volunteer participation have increased between people living with a disability and those without, people living in Scotland’s most and least deprived communities and those in the lowest and highest income brackets."
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