Percentage of adults who rate their neighbourhood as a very good place to live. Find out more about this indicator.

Overall ratings of neighbourhood have been consistently high, with over nine in ten adults typically saying their neighbourhood is a ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ good place to live.  The percentage of people who rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live had been gradually increasing from 51.1% in 2006 to 55.9% in 2011 remaining around this level since. The figure is at 57.0% in 2019.

The percentage of people who rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live went from 57.4% in 2018 to 57.0% in 2019. There was an increase of 5.9 percentage points from 51.1% in the baseline year of 2006.

Neighbourhood perceptions increased with age - 49% of adults aged 16 to 24 rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live, increasing to 68% of adults aged 75 and over in 2019.

In 2019, adults from a white ethnic background were more likely to rate their neighbourhood as a very good place to live (58% of adults), compared to adults from minority ethnic groups (46% of adults).

There was no difference in ratings reported by men or women in 2019.

In 2019, adults who didn’t have a disability were more likely to rate their neighbourhood as a very good place to live (59% of adults), compared to those who did have a disability (51% of adults). This is similar to ratings between 2014 and 2018.

There is a trend in neighbourhood ratings between adults with different religions. Adults recorded as Church of Scotland or Other Christian religions have consistently rated their neighbourhood higher than those recorded as None.

Deprivation reveals area-based differences, as the proportion rating their neighbourhood as a very good place to live increased significantly as deprivation declined. Of those living in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland in 2019, 32% rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live, rising to 77% for those living in the 20% least deprived areas. This is a similar trend to previous years

There is a pattern in perceived neighbourhood ratings between urban and rural areas.  People living in remote rural areas were the most likely to rate their neighbourhood as a very good place to live (80% of adults in 2019), compared to half for those living in large urban areas (50% of adults in 2019).

Breakdowns for this indicator are available by age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, urban/rural classification and local authority. These breakdowns can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.