Young People in Scotland 2022: volunteering analysis
Volunteer Scotland · 2023
About this report
This report analyses volunteering participation among secondary school pupils in Scotland, drawing on a 2022 survey of 1,533 pupils aged 11–18. It finds a significant decline in both formal (down 12 percentage points to 37%) and informal (down 7 percentage points to 18%) volunteering since 2019, with COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis identified as likely drivers. Key findings include that older pupils (17–18) were more resilient to the decline, that gender parity in formal volunteering was reached for the first time, and that young people with long-term health conditions volunteered at higher rates than those without. The report recommends including volunteering in the school curriculum and adapting volunteer-involving organisations' practices to enable young people to volunteer with friends.
Research details
- Methodology
- SurveySecondary analysisMixed methods
- Sample size
- 1,533
- Sample
- State secondary school pupils aged 11–18 across 24 local authorities in Scotland, weighted to be representative of the wider population of young people in Scotland.
- Place
- Scotland
- Youth involvement
- No youth involvement