National Survey for Wales headline results: April 2022 to March 2023
This report contains only a selection of results from April 2022 to March 2023.
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An error has been identified in the arts, culture and heritage indicator based on National Survey results from the 2022-23 fieldwork year (April 2022 to March 2023). Use of archives, libraries, and museums should have been included in the indicator but was not, and so a decrease in participation compared with 2019-20 was incorrectly reported. The revised indicator shows that there was no decrease compared with 2019-20. The figures quoted for this indicator have been revised accordingly, and were republished on 17 November 2023. Revisions are marked throughout this report with '(r)'.
Introduction
This report sets out results on a wide range of topics asked in the National Survey for Wales. The survey runs continuously across Wales, covering around 12,000 people aged 16 and over each year. It takes place in two parts: firstly, over the telephone and then a second section online.
Some results from previous years are included in this release to provide context. However, due to the change in mode (from face-to-face prior to 2020), care should be taken when making direct comparisons.
Climate and the environment
of people say they undertake at least one of six behaviours that are good for the environment.
People were asked whether they do each of six types of environment-related behaviour as part of their everyday life (Figure 1). They were also asked the reasons for doing these.
Figure 1: Environmental behaviours, by year
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2021-22 and 2022-23
Description of Figure 1: Vertical bar chart compares six common behaviours people undertake to help the environment in the 2022-23 survey with the results from the previous year, 2022-22. Minimising the energy use at home was the most common action for both years, taken by 75% of people in 2022-23 and 62% in 2021-22.
84% of people who had minimised energy use at home said the main reason for this was the cost of energy. This is an increase from 62% in 2021-22. Similarly, 43% of people said cost was the main reason they had minimised their purchase of brand-new things compared with 30% the previous year.
Cost was also the most given reason for reducing travel by car, selected by 43% of respondents in 2022-23. Health or dietary reasons was the most common motivation for people who had reduced their consumption of meat or dairy. 25% of people who had minimised their air travel said it was to limit the effects of climate change.
97% of people think that the world’s climate is changing. This has increased from 93% in 2016-17. In 2022-23, the age group who were most likely to be very concerned about climate change were people aged 65 to 74 (47%) compared with 32% of people aged 16 to 24. In total 9% of people say they are not at all concerned by climate change.
Repair and re-use
of people have either sold or given away items in the previous 12 months.
Women are more likely to sell or give away items than men (93% of women, 87% of men). Overall, 78% of people donated items to charity shops, 54% gave things away to family or friends, and 41% sold them online.
70% of people have either received or bought second-hand items in the last 12 months, an increase from 57% in 2018-19. Of this group, people aged under 45 are more likely to source items online or from family and friends than are people in older age groups. People aged 65 and over are the group most likely to not receive or buy second hand items.
40% of people have repaired a household item (or had one repaired) during the past year, and 45% of people have repaired or altered clothing over the same period. Men (44%) were more likely than women (37%) to repair a household item, whilst more women (51%) than men (39%) altered clothing that would otherwise be unused or thrown away.
Arts attendance and participation
people attend or participate in arts, culture, or heritage activities at least three times a year. (r)
This is consistent with results from 2019-20 when these questions were last asked, pre-COVID 19.(r) Separately, 64% of people attended an arts event in the past year. (Figure 2) 18% of people said they had participated in an arts activity in the previous 12 months.
(r) The percentage of people attending or participating in arts, culture or heritage activities 3 or more times a year was calculated incorrectly for our 2022-23 results. This has been corrected as of 17 November 2023.
Figure 2: Arts events attended, by year
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2019-20 and 2022-23
Description of Figure 2: Horizontal bar chart showing that most common arts event attended was a film showing, 47% of people went in 2022-23 compared with 54% in 2019-20.
63% of people said they visited a heritage site in the past year and 31% had been to a museum. Use of library services has fallen from 32% in 2019-20 to 25% in 2022-23. The proportion of people using an archive or records office has increased from 5% in 2019-20 to 8%.
Childcare
of parents with children aged 0 to 14 arranged childcare so that they can work, study, or attend training.
77% of the parents who didn’t use childcare said it was not necessary because one parent was always around.
Of the parents who had arranged childcare, childcare provided by family and friends was the most common type used, with 85% of this group using this option. Some parents used family and friends alongside more formal childcare like nurseries and after school clubs. 18% of parents with a child aged 0 to 14 used some type of formal childcare.
Deprivation
of adults in Wales were classified as materially deprived.
Material deprivation is where people are not able to afford basic things like keeping the house warm. Further information is available in Terms and definitions.
Adult deprivation has increased from 11% in 2021-22. Child deprivation has increased since the last estimate, with 9% of parents having materially deprived children compared with 6% in 2019-20. Looking at pensioner adults separately their level of material deprivation remained the same as in 2021-22 at 5%.
63% of people said they have no difficulty keeping up with bills and credit commitments. This proportion has dropped since last year (when it was 76%) back to a level last seen in the National Survey in 2016-17.
People were also asked about their ability to afford food. 2% said they don’t eat meals with meat, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent at least every other day. 5% said that there had been at least one day in the previous fortnight when they went without a substantial meal. 3% said they had received food from a food bank in the last 12 months and a further 3% said they had wanted to; this is an increase since 2021-22 when 2% had used a food bank and a further 1% had wanted to.
Lifestyle behaviours
of people say they have 2 or more healthy behaviours.
Welsh Government public health policy focuses on five ‘healthy lifestyle’ behaviours:
- not smoking
- not drinking above guidelines
- being a healthy weight
- eating 5 portions of fruit or vegetables
- being active
30% of people say they have 4 or 5 healthy behaviours.
13% of adults are smokers, and 30% are ex-smokers. 17% of people do not drink alcohol, while 17% drink more than the guideline maximum of 14 units per week. 37% of people are a healthy weight, while 61% are overweight or obese (including 26% obese). 29% of people say they have eaten 5 or more fruit and vegetable portions on the previous day. 55% of people say they were active for at least 150 minutes the previous week, which would meet weekly activity guidelines.
Health-related lifestyle topics can be sensitive to changes in mode, so results are not directly comparable with those produced before 2021-22. Further analysis of these results will be published on the National Survey web pages on 25 July 2023.
Social care services
5% of people said they received help for themselves from care and support services in Wales in the last 12 months. Of the people who receive care 33% have a package of care arranged by the local council, and 37% of this group pay towards the care they receive. A further 3% of people said they have needed but not received help from care and support services in the past 12 months.
29% of people said they look after or give help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of long-term physical or mental ill-health or disability, or problems related to old age. (Figure 3)
Figure 3: Volunteer care and support
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2022-23
Description of Figure 3: Vertical bar chart showing different time periods in hours per week. 44% of people provide 1 to 5 hours care and support while at the right-hand side 19% spend 50 or more hours per week as volunteer carers.
7% of people said they receive help from care and support services in Wales to care for, or arrange care for, someone else. Of this group, 38% receive help for someone within their own household.
Sport and physical activity
of people say they participate in sporting activities three or more times per week.
The number of people who say they participate in sporting activities three or more times per week increased from 34% in 2021-22. We asked people which activities they take part in. 56% of people say they participate in fitness activities (such as fitness classes, running/jogging, cycling, or swimming) and 16% participate in sports or games (such as football, rugby, table tennis or golf). 6% participate in outdoor pursuits like rambling, kayaking, or sailing.
People were also asked whether there were any sports or activities they would like to do, or to do more of. 27% say they want to do more sport or physical activity in general, a decrease from 31% in 2021-22. In 2022-23, 16% say they want to do more fitness activities and 10% want to do more sports or games, and 5% would like to do more outdoor pursuits.
Of everyone, 26% participate in sporting activities three or more times a week and say they are content with that amount, while 13% who participate three or more times a week would like to do still more. 14% of people participate less often than three times per week but would also like to do more sporting activity.
Internet use
of adults say they use the internet (at home, work, or elsewhere).
92% of internet users say they use the internet several times a day. This has increased from 76% in 2019-20.
Internet users were asked what devices they used to connect to the internet. (Figure 4) 91% of this group use a smartphone to access the internet compared with 61% of internet users in 2014-15. The use of Smart TV has also shown an increase from 12% in 2014-15 to 69% in 2022-23.
Figure 4: Devices used to access internet, by year
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2014-15 and 2022-23
Description of Figure 4: Horizontal bar chart showing how the use of different devices to access the internet has changed since first asked in 2014-15.
80% of people who use broadband at home were satisfied with the speed of connection.
Transport
40% of people used a bus service in the past year with 30% of that group using a bus at least once a week. 45% of people used train services in the past year with the majority of those (91%) using a train less than once a week. Overall, 4% of people said there were no bus services in their local area, and 8% said there were no train services.
The main reason people gave for not using public transport or for not using it more often was that going by car was more convenient/easier. (Figure 5)
Figure 5: Reasons for not using buses and trains
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2022-23
Description of Figure 5: Horizontal bar chart listing reasons why people don’t use buses and trains more for routine travel, such as for work or leisure.
Everyone, including people who hadn’t used a bus or train in the previous 12 months, was asked how satisfied they are with the reliability and frequency of services. 52% said they were satisfied overall with the bus service and 55% were satisfied with train services.
A further set of questions was asked of people who are employed and who travel to work, including one about their usual mode(s) of transport to work. 75% usually travel by car or van, 8% by bus and 4% by train.
When asked what time their journey to work normally started, men were more likely to start early in the morning (before 7am) than women: 46%, compared with 27% of women. Travelling to work at any time on a Sunday was also more common amongst men.
Work
of people are in employment.
2% are unemployed and 42% are considered economically inactive. Of the employed: 85% are an employee, 14% are self-employed and 1% are both. 89% of employees say they have a permanent contract, 5% a fixed-term contract, 3% a zero-hour contract and 1% work for an agency. Men are more likely to work in private sector jobs than women (64% of men working in the private sector compared with 42% of women), while the opposite is true in the public sector (32% of men and 53% of women).
Figure 6: Workplace travel, by age group
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2022-23
Description of Figure 6: Vertical bar chart showing usual travel pattern to work split by age group. 77% of 16 to 24 year olds travel to the same workplace every day compared with 59% of 45 to 64 year olds. 16 to 24 year olds are less likely to work remotely than older age groups, 16% compared with 37% for people aged 25 to 44.
34% of people in work say they work remotely for some or all of their working hours. Of those who do not usually work remotely, 21% say that it would be possible to do their job remotely.
Well-being and loneliness
People were asked about their mental wellbeing. The results are scored using the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), a scale of 14 self-assessed questions with scores ranging from 14 to 70. A higher score (58 to 70) suggests high mental wellbeing, while scoring 44 or lower suggests having low mental wellbeing. Scoring between 45 and 57 suggests the person has medium mental wellbeing.
The average WEMWBS score in 2022-23 is 48.2. This is similar to the score in 2021-22. 32% of people have low wellbeing, 55% have medium wellbeing, and 13% have high wellbeing. On average younger people have lower wellbeing: those aged 16 to 24 have a score of 47.4, compared with a score of 51.1 for those aged 65 and over.
The survey also included a series of questions which assess levels of loneliness. Based on these, 13% of people were found to be lonely. People in material deprivation were more likely to be lonely: 34% of materially deprived people say they are lonely, compared with 9% of people who were not materially deprived.
Figure 7: Loneliness, by ethnicity
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2022-23
Description of Figure 7: Vertical bar chart showing degree of loneliness by grouped ethnicity. 24% of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities say they are lonely all or most of the time compared with 12% of White (Welsh, English, Scottish or Northern Irish) people.
Dental health
of those who had an NHS dental appointment in the last 12 months are satisfied with the care they received.
41% of people who had not been to a dentist (either NHS or private) in the past 12 months had wanted an appointment. 83% of this group wanted an NHS appointment, 7% a private appointment and 10% didn’t mind which type. Of those who wanted an NHS appointment but could not get one:
- 56% said there was no NHS dental practice availability / on waiting list
- 21% had no NHS dental practice in their area
- 18% said there were no appointments available
The proportion of people who had an appointment in the last 6 months shows a rise over the last two years since the start of the pandemic: 21% in 2020-21, 32% in 2021-22 and 42% in 2022-23.
Gambling
of people aged 18 and over say they take part in some form of gambling.
People aged 18+ were asked whether or not they gambled and, if so, what types of activity they spent money on. Lotteries and scratch cards are the most common type of gambling reported: 57% of people say they had bought these in the last 12 months; figures did not vary by sex. However, more men (16%) than women (7%) say they place bets online or play games online for money. (Figure 8)
Figure 8: Gambling activities in last 12 months, by sex
Source: National Survey for Wales, 2022-23
Description of Figure 8: Horizontal bar chart showing types of gambling activity people took part in over the previous 12 months, with males and females plotted separately.
Quality information
The National Survey for Wales is a continuous, large-scale, random sample survey covering people across Wales. Addresses are randomly selected, and invitations sent by post, requesting that a phone number be provided for the address. The phone number can be provided via an online portal, a telephone enquiry line, or direct to the mobile number of the interviewer for that case. If no phone number is provided, an interviewer may call at the address and ask for a phone number. Once a phone number is obtained, the interviewer uses a random selection method to choose one adult at the address to take part in the survey. The first section of the survey takes place by telephone interview; the second section takes place online (unless the respondent is unwilling or unable to complete it online, in which case these questions are also asked by telephone).
Detailed charts and tables of results are available in our interactive results viewer. For information on data collection and methodology please see our Quality report and Technical report.
National Statistics status
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value.
All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.
It is Welsh Government’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.
The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in June 2020 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation (letter of confirmation). These statistics last underwent a full assessment (full report) against the Code of Practice in 2013.
Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, by for example:
- providing more detailed breakdowns in the results viewer
- updated the survey topics regularly to ensure we continue to meet changing policy need
- continued to carry out regression analysis as a standard part of our outputs, to help users understand the contribution of particular factors to outcomes of interest
Well-being of Future Generations Act
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier, and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. The first 46 national indicators were laid in March 2016. The National Survey now collects information for 16 of the 50 indicators.
Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public service boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.
