Scotland has been hit by a “trend of declining volunteer participation”, a report has warned, with the country having lost 335,000 formal volunteers in just four years.

Volunteer Scotland has reiterated its warning from last year that volunteering was in “crisis”, saying that between 2019 and 2023 formal volunteering fell by eight percentage points cumulatively.

The State of Volunteering in Scotland report, which brings together the charity’s recent research, says this equates to a loss of more than 335,000 formal volunteers in a four-year period. 

The report also found that there was a decrease in the number of volunteering hours, saying that between 2018 and 2022, 28 million fewer hours were volunteered with a group or organisation.

This is equivalent to 79,00 fewer volunteer weeks or 18,000 fewer full-time jobs annually, in terms of time spent volunteering, the report says.

“The decline in volunteer participation coincides with a time of increased demand for third sector organisations,” the report says. “With 335,000 fewer volunteers since 2019 to draw upon to meet this demand, many third sector organisations are struggling to maintain vital services.”

The report says the cost-of-living crisis has been closing the doors to volunteer participation, adding: “In autumn 2024, 79 per cent of third sector organisations faced issues with volunteer recruitment and 69 per cent of third sector organisations faced issues with volunteer retention.”

The two biggest challenges identified by voluntary organisations in recruiting new volunteers were fewer people coming forward to volunteer and people having less time to do so, the report says

Volunteer fatigue and burnout, as well as volunteer apathy due to a “perma-crisis”, were also highlighted by third sector organisations as key challenges, according to the report.

It says mental health and wellbeing have been highlighted as ongoing issues among Scottish adults as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

“We argue that these issues increase the demand for third sector services while also reducing individuals’ resilience and capacity to volunteer. This is contributing to the crisis in volunteer participation,” the report says.

The research found a larger decrease in formal volunteer participation rates for men compared with women – which the report says continued a well-established trend.

Between 2022 and 2023, participation by men dropped by four percentage points, while in women it dropped by just two.

The report also found that during this period there was a five percentage point decrease in volunteering among Scotland’s ethnic minority populations, which the report suggests could be linked to the cost-of-living crisis. 

“Our research on Scotland’s volunteering response to Covid-19 found that, coming out of the pandemic (Jan 2022) 81 per cent of infrastructure organisations reported that tackling exclusion was a priority and 37 per cent of volunteer-involving organisations reported currently prioritising making volunteering more inclusive. 

“However, the strain of the cost-of-living crisis is impacting on these efforts to promote inclusion in volunteering,” the report says.

The report adds adults who are permanently retired from work have the highest volunteering participation rates by economic status for the first time.

“The decline in formal volunteer participation rates for adults in employment may, at least in part, be explained by the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

“While the cost-of-living crisis may ease in the coming years, the potential impact on volunteer participation is unknown – we could see this trend solidified or an uptick in volunteering for working age adults,” the report says.

Volunteer Scotland has urged the voluntary sector to consider how it could tackle barriers faced by working-age adults when it came to volunteer participation, including looking at how to promote volunteering as part of people’s transition from work to retirement.