They are more likely to donate to or give time to charity than the UK average, according to figures published by the Charities Aid Foundation
Scottish people are more generous and more likely to get involved with charities than the UK average, according to new research from the Charities Aid Foundation.
In its report Scotland Giving 2017, which is CAF’s first annual overview of charitable giving in Scotland, CAF found that Scots are more likely to donate money to charity than the UK average, with 65 per cent of Scots saying they donate to charity each year compared with 61 per cent of people across the UK.
The report, which is based on a monthly tracking survey involving more than 700 people in Scotland carried out by the research company YouGov, also found that people in Scotland donated £813m to charity in 2016, accounting for 8.4 per cent of the £9.7bn donated to charity in the UK that year.
To put that figure in context, the population of Scotland is 8.2 per cent of the total number of people in the UK.
Scots are also more likely to volunteer than the UK average, with 19 per cent of people in Scotland saying they give time to charity compared with 17 per cent across the whole UK.
The report says that Scots are more likely to donate goods to charity, with 58 per cent doing so compared with the UK average of 56 per cent, according to the report.
Scots are also more likely to sponsor a friend or colleague who is raising money for charity, with 40 per cent doing so compared with 37 per cent nationally.
Young people in Scotland are more likely to be engaged with charity than young people across the UK as a whole, with 94 per cent of Scottish 16 to 24-year-olds having taken on some form of charitable activity in the past year compared with the UK average of 89 per cent.
Martin Sime, chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: “Through our own work over the years we’ve had a strong sense that people in Scotland are very supportive of charities, and it’s encouraging that in a number of areas this new research shows the picture is indeed somewhat rosier in Scotland than in the rest of the UK – for example in volunteering, and donations.”