Research: Modest and unequal gains to wellbeing in Scotland

The wellbeing of the people of Scotland saw modest improvements over the past two years, according to a new report by Carnegie UK. However, the research highlights that people in social housing or living with a disability remain much more likely to face economic and social hardship than other groups in Scotland.

The Scotland breakdown of Carnegie’s Life in the UK Index for 2025 shows the wellbeing of people in Scotland improving over the last two years, with more people finding it affordable to heat their homes adequately and fewer people finding it unaffordable to go on a week’s holiday. This change combined with other factors like improving mental health and higher satisfaction with education and skills led to an increase in overall levels of wellbeing in Scotland.

The report also finds that the wellbeing of the people of Scotland is now slightly higher than the UK average for the first time since the annual research series began in 2023.

The Dunfermline-based policy foundation says that next year’s Holyrood election is an opportunity for the country’s political parties to lay out long-term plans to tackle poverty and inequality.

Sarah Davidson, chief executive of Carnegie UK, said: “Our research shows an improvement to the collective wellbeing of people in Scotland between 2023 and 2025. That’s good news but we’re still far from a situation where everyone in Scotland has their basic needs met.

“Next year’s Holyrood elections are an opportunity for Scotland’s political parties to make real progress in closing the national wellbeing gap. Many of the greatest challenges the country faces – like working with communities to build back up deprived neighbourhoods – cannot be fixed in a year or even an electoral term.

“There’s an opportunity for the next administration to build systems and processes which join-up government action to tackle the gross inequalities and widespread poverty we all see every day. Underpinning this approach should be efforts to regularly and systematically measure the wellbeing of the people of this country.”

The Index, based on a 26-question survey of 7,106 people including 1,035 in Scotland, looks at the social, economic, environmental and democratic aspects of life in the UK. The headline index score for Scotland – designed to measure the wellbeing of people in the country – is 63 out of a possible 100. The equivalent UK figure is 62 out of a possible 100. The index has been running since 2023, and this is the first time there has been a notable difference between UK nations.

The research also continues to find very low trust in politics and government in Scotland. While Carnegie’s survey work shows a small increase in democratic wellbeing in England over the last year, no such change is seen north of the border.

About half (52%) of people in Scotland have low trust in the UK Government. This is an improvement of eight percentage points since last year, although it remains significantly higher than the UK average of 45%. By comparison, 36% of people have low trust in the Scottish Government – a figure that’s not changed significantly in the last year. Furthermore, 34% of people now have low trust in their local council, six percentage points higher than in 2023. Younger people, disabled people and people living in deprived neighbourhoods are those least likely to feel heard by decision-makers.

Being disabled and living in a deprived neighbourhood are the two factors most strongly associated with low wellbeing in Scotland in 2025. In addition, about a third (32%) of people in Scotland are dissatisfied with job opportunities in their local area – a figure that’s not improved in the last year.

Stephen Boyd, director of IPPR Scotland, said: “This important report from Carnegie UK contains a number fascinating and revealing insights which should be of huge interest and concern to all Scotland’s politicians. It is encouraging that the index has seen a modest uptick in wellbeing but the findings on trust in politics and government reflect deep-seated views that politics is failing to deliver on the public’s priorities.

“The results confirming low levels of wellbeing amongst disabled people and in deprived neighbourhoods reflects the ongoing failure of both UK and Scottish governments to tackle longstanding inequalities. It is essential that manifestos for next year’s Scottish elections bring forward credible policy agendas for remedying these failures”.