Scottish Health Survey

A crucial picture of health and wellbeing in Scotland

The 2023 Scottish Health Survey results provide a crucial picture of health and wellbeing in Scotland and how this has changed over the past two decades.

It provides information about how healthy people are, what health services people use and examines the health and health-related behaviour of different groups in society.

The data collected also informs the Scottish Government National Performance Framework and feeds into a nationwide health strategy.

The latest report is from data collected in 2023.

Findings  

• The 2023 report covers topics including mental health and wellbeing, general health, respiratory, dental health, diet and food insecurity, obesity, smoking, alcohol and drugs.
• 72% of adults reported their general health to be ‘very good/good’, a figure at the lower end of the range recorded since 2008 (70% – 77%). 
• The vast majority of children reported ‘very good/good’ general health (94%), similar to previous years (93% – 96%).
• Females were more likely to report living with a limiting long-term condition than males (43% and 32% respectively), with the largest difference seen for those aged 45-54 (45% and 29% respectively).
• 14% of all adults reported being unpaid carers, a proportion higher among females (16%) than males (11%).
• Following two years of decline, average mental wellbeing (measured by mean WEMWBS scores) for adults increased to 48.9, up from 47.0 in 2022 and 48.6 in 2021, still below the 49.8 mean score in 2019.
• One in ten adults (10%) reported feeling lonely ‘most’ or ‘all of the time’, with adults aged 16-24 (19%) and those living in the most deprived areas (14%) the most likely to report feeling like this in the past week. 
• 14% of adults reported experiencing food insecurity, an increase from 9% in 2021 and the highest level since the time series began in 2017. 
• 65% who had worried that they would run out of food in the last 12 months reported below average life satisfaction, more than double the proportion for adults who had reported that they were not worried (31%).
• Younger adults aged 16-24 who were ex-smokers or current smokers who had ever attempted to quit smoking were most likely to have used e-cigarettes or vaping devices in their most recent attempt to stop smoking, 44% compared with 3% of those aged 75 and over.
• Prevalence of current e-cigarette or vaping device use was highest among adults living in the most deprived areas of Scotland (17%), and lowest among those living in the least deprived areas (6%).

Methodology

The Scottish Health Survey was first conducted in 1995 and then again in 1998 and 2003 and has been carried out annually since 2008.

The SHeS 2023 launched in March 2023. Interviews for all samples were undertaken using primarily an in-home face-to-face approach. Potential respondents were contacted by letter and invited to take part in an in-home interview.

Each survey in the SHeS series has a set of main questions and measurements (height and weight and, if applicable, blood pressure, waist circumference and saliva samples), plus modules of questions on specific health conditions and health risk factors that vary from year to year. Each year the main sample has been augmented by an additional boosted sample for children.