Wellbeing of Wales 2025 - A Wales of cohesive communities

Authors: Steven Macey and Ian Jones

A Wales of cohesive communities: Attractive, viable, safe and well-connected communities.

Community cohesion indicators had been broadly stable since financial year 2016 to 2017 until a sizeable increase in 2020 to 2021. Since then the percentage of adults agreeing with all 3 measures of community cohesion has fallen, with this trend also observed in 2024 to 2025, moving closer towards pre-pandemic levels.

Signs of a return to pre-pandemic levels are particularly apparent in people’s satisfaction with their local area and people feeling they can influence local decisions. The percentages reported for these indicators in 2024 to 2025 were either equal to or within a percentage point of what was observed in 2018 to 2019.

People feeling safe after dark has remained relatively constant since first asked in 2016 to 2017 and stood at 68% in 2024 to 2025.

The percentage of people volunteering had been falling but is an indicator that has seen recent increases. The national milestone to have 30% of people volunteering was reached in 2022 to 2023, and continues to be met, with 32% of people volunteering in 2024 to 2025.

Loneliness, based on a composite of six separate measures, has remained the same over recent years, with 13% of people in Wales found to be lonely in 2022 to 2023. Within the overall measure, the percentage that ‘miss having people around’ has followed a different pattern with a substantially increased percentage during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 before falling to previous levels in 2022 to 2023 (36%).

In the past year the percentage of households successfully prevented and relieved from homelessness has slightly fallen, whilst the number of individuals in temporary accommodation has decreased, and the estimated number of individuals sleeping rough is higher.

Around half of people in Wales think crime has risen a lot nationally in recent years. This figure has returned to the pre-pandemic levels observed in 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 after a drop in 2022 to 2023. However, since 2015 to 2016, there have been general downward trends in the proportion of adults who were victims of crime (excluding fraud), and victims of personal crime. In the last year (2024 to 2025) police recorded crime in Wales (excluding fraud) has decreased by 1% whilst the proportion of adults who are victims of crime has remained relatively stable (6% of adults in 2024 to 2025).

In financial year 2024 to 2025, nearly 6 in 10 adults (58%) agreed with all 3 measures of community cohesion (belonging to the local area, people from different backgrounds getting on well together, and treating each other with respect and consideration). This is an increase on pre-pandemic years but lower than what was reported in 2021 to 2022. 

These figures had been broadly stable since they were first collected in 2012 until the sizeable increase in 2020 to 2021. Whether the increases in 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 were a short-term effect of the pandemic (with communities coming together locally) and whether the fall observed in 2024 to 2025 will be sustained or partly sustained over the longer term will not become clear until data is available for future years. 

There is a clear trend towards increased community cohesion as deprivation in the area falls. Just under half of people living in the most deprived areas agreed with all 3 statements, compared with almost two-thirds of people in the least deprived areas.

Older people are more likely to agree with all 3 measures of community cohesion. The proportion agreeing with all 3 statements in 2024 to 2025 ranged from 43% of 16 to 24 year olds to 69% of those aged 75 and above. 

Increased community cohesion is also observed among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people plus among non-disabled people or people without a limiting long-term illness.

There is no statistically significant difference between men and women agreeing with all 3 statements. 

Figure 5.1: percentage of people agreeing with statements about their local area, by financial year, between 2012 to 2013 and 2024 to 2025 [Note 1]

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Description of figure 5.1: line chart showing percentage of people who agree with 3 statements about community cohesion in their local area from financial year 2012 to 2013 until 2024 to 2025. In 2024 to 2025, 80% agreed people in the area from different backgrounds get on well together; 80% agree people treat each other with respect and consideration; and 73% agreed they belong to the local area.

Source: National Survey for Wales

[Note 1] The years 2015 to 2016, 2017 to 2018, 2019 to 2020, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 have no data associated with them.

Just over two-thirds of adults feel safe in various situations after dark.

The national indicator is the percentage of people that agreed with four statements about feeling safe after dark at home, walking in their local area, travelling by public transport or travelling by car. In financial year 2024 to 2025, 68% of people felt safe in all four situations.  These results have remained relatively constant across the years since first asked in 2016 to 2017.

There is a trend towards an increased feeling of safety as deprivation in the area falls, with 74% of people who live in the least deprived areas feeling safe in all situations compared with 57% of people who live in the most deprived areas.

There is a marked difference by sex, with men feeling safer (82%) than women (56%).

Disabled people or people with a limiting long-term illness were also less likely to feel safe after dark, as were people aged 75 and over compared with those aged 25 to 44, and 45 to 64.

There is no statistically significant difference by ethnicity with regards to feeling safe.

Figure 5.2: percentage of people agreeing with statements about feeling safe after dark, financial year 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 5.2: a bar chart showing the percentage of people agreeing with statements about feeling safe after dark in financial year 2024 to 2025. 97% felt safe at home, 97% felt safe travelling by car, 79% felt safe walking in the local area and 77% felt safe travelling by public transport. 

Source: National Survey for Wales

[Note 1] 16% of people who were asked said 'Don't know' to the question about public transport and were excluded from the analysis.

In financial year 2024 to 2025, 84% of people said they are satisfied with their local area as a place to live, lower than the results in previous years and similar to what was reported pre-pandemic. 

People living in the least deprived 20% areas of Wales were more likely to be satisfied with their local area than people living in the 20% most deprived areas, whilst this was also the case for non-disabled people / people with no limiting long-term illness.

Adults aged 16 to 24 were less likely than adults of other ages in 2024 to 2025 to be satisfied with their local area as a place to live.

There were no links found between satisfaction with local area and sex or ethnicity.

Access to good services and facilities

In financial year 2024 to 2025, 78% of people were satisfied that they were able to get to or access the services and facilities they need within a 15 to 20 minute walk from their home, down on the proportions observed in previous years. 

This varied by the type of area with a statistically significant lower percentage of people from rural areas having access to good services and facilities compared to those from urban areas (74% compared to 81%). Unsurprisingly, occupants of hamlets and isolated dwellings were the least satisfied with their access to good services and facilities, with only 67% showing as satisfied on this indicator.

Adults aged 16 to 24 are more likely to be satisfied with their access to good services and facilities than adults aged 75 and over. Similarly, this is also the case for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people compared to White (Welsh, English, British etc.) people. There is also a statistically significant difference in terms of being satisfied with access to good services and facilities according to whether someone is a disabled person / has a limiting long-term illness (72% satisfied) or not (82% satisfied). 

No statistically significant difference is observed according to sex or the deprivation of an area.

Figure 5.3: access to good services and facilities by area, financial year 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 5.3: bar chart showing percentage of people who are satisfied with their access to good services and facilities. 81% of people in urban areas are satisfied compared with 67% of people who live in hamlets and isolated dwellings.

Source: National Survey for Wales

Results for financial year 2024 to 2025 show the proportion of people who feel they can influence local decisions has fallen, dropping back to what was observed pre-pandemic.

In 2024 to 2025, 19% of people felt that they could influence decisions affecting their local area compared with 30% in 2021 to 2022, 26% in 2020 to 2021 and 19% in 2018 to 2019. Whether the higher figures observed in 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 were the consequence of the pandemic with proportions returning to pre-pandemic levels from 2024 to 2025 onwards requires monitoring in future survey years.

Controlling for other factors, there were no statistically significant differences found for age, sex, whether someone is a disabled person / has a limiting long-term illness, ethnicity or for area deprivation.

Figure 5.4: percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions affecting local area, between financial years 2012 to 2013 and 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 5.4: line chart showing the percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions affecting their local area. In financial year 2024 to 2025, 19% of people felt they could influence decisions affecting their local area, returning to the levels last seen in 2018 to 2019. This compares to proportions of 30% and 26% in 2021 to 2022 and 2020 to 2021, respectively.

Source: National Survey for Wales

Results from online data collected as part of the National Survey for Wales 2024 to 2025 showed that 32% of people said they volunteered for clubs or organisations. This compares with 26% in 2019 to 2020 (when the survey took place face-to-face), 29% in 2021 to 2022 (when the volunteering questions were asked as part of the online module for the first time) and 30% in 2022 to 2023 (again following a purely online data collection). In all years people most commonly volunteered for charities and sports clubs. 

In 2024 to 2025, a greater proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic adults (45%) volunteered compared to White (Welsh, English, British etc.) adults (32%), as did a greater proportion of non-disabled people and people without a limiting long term illness (35%) compared with disabled people and people with a limiting long-term illness (27%).

Volunteering tends to increase with age, peaking among 65 to 74 year olds (39%) before falling slightly among those aged 75 years and above (37%). Those aged 16 to 24 years are the least likely to volunteer (25%). Volunteering also increases as the deprivation of an area reduces, with people from the most deprived areas (21%) less likely to volunteer compared to people from the least deprived areas (39%)

There are no statistically significant differences by sex.

Figure 5.5: percentage of people volunteering by type of organisation, financial year 2024 to 2025 

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Description of figure 5.5: bar chart showing the percentage of people volunteering, by type of organisation, in financial year 2024 to 2025. People are most likely to volunteer for charitable organisations (12%), or sports clubs (9%).

Source: National Survey for Wales

The national milestone for the volunteering indicator is to “increase the percentage of people who volunteer by 10% by 2050, demonstrating Wales’s status as a volunteering nation”. This means reaching a figure of 30% by 2050. This milestone was met in 2022 to 2023 and continues to be met based on 2024 to 2025 results.

The National Survey for Wales collects data using the De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale which covers 6 measures of emotional and social loneliness. 

A question on loneliness was not included in the financial year 2024 to 2025 National Survey for Wales. In 2022 to 2023, based on all 6 measures, 13% of people in Wales were found to be lonely, the same as in 2021 to 2022 and 2020 to 2021, and lower than in 2019 to 2020. However, there were some marked variations in the percentage of people who say they feel lonely across the individual measures: 

• in 2019 to 2020, 36% of people said they missed having people around. This increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic (71% in 2020 to 2021 and 53% in 2021 to 2022), before falling back again to 36% in 2022 to 2023.
• the percentage of people who reported that they have people they can trust completely increased from 59% in 2019 to 2020 to 67% in 2020 to 2021. This was maintained in 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023.
• from 2019 to 2020 to 2021 to 2022 there were increases in the percentage of people who said they had enough people they felt close to, and enough people they could rely on. The figures for 2022 to 2023 were slightly lower but not a statistically significant change from 2020 to 2021.

The most recent results (2022 to 2023) from the National Survey for Wales suggested that younger adults (aged 16 to 44) were more likely to feel lonely than those aged 65 and above.

People living in material deprivation, and individuals with a mental health condition or in poorer general health, were more likely to be lonely.

There were also differences by ethnicity, with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people being more likely to be lonely.

The impact of these inequalities can be exacerbated where they intersect.

Figure 5.6: percentage of people feeling lonely by reason and financial year, between 2019 to 2020 and 2022 to 2023

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Description of figure 5.6: bar chart showing the results for financial year 2019 to 2020 to financial year 2022 to 2023 and the six questions asked to create the measure of loneliness. Overall, the responses to the statements show that people were less lonely in 2022 to 2023 compared with 2019 to 2020.

Source: National Survey for Wales

A new national indicator was set in 2021 which will measure the status of digital inclusion. A new set of questions that align with the principles of a minimum digital living standard are undergoing cognitive testing for inclusion in future waves of the National Survey for Wales. The questions have been informed by research commissioned by the Welsh Government and undertaken by the University of Liverpool. Once finalised, the questions will provide data to measure digital exclusion across Wales and inform the national indicator.  

In the meantime, results from the National Survey for Wales in financial year 2024 to 2025 show that 96% of adults personally use the internet at home, work or elsewhere,  an increase from 93% observed in 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023. 

The National Survey for Wales data also shows that while almost all people aged 16 to 64 years use the internet, this decreases to 96% of 65 to 74 year olds and 82% of those aged 75 years and above. Interestingly, the levels for these older age groups are higher in 2024 to 2025 relative to 2022 to 2023 when they were 89% and 68%, respectively.

Statistically significant higher personal use of the internet is also apparent in 2024 to 2025 among non-disabled people / people without a limiting long term illness, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people (relative to White (Welsh, English, British etc.) people) and people living in the least deprived areas of Wales. 

There are no statistically significant differences by sex.

In the past year the percentage of households successfully prevented and relieved from homelessness has slightly fallen, whilst the number of individuals in temporary accommodation has decreased, and the estimated number of individuals sleeping rough is higher.

Prevention of homelessness

Among households in Wales threatened with homelessness between April 2024 and March 2025, homelessness was successfully prevented for at least 6 months in 57% of cases. This is similar to the proportion of 58% for the period April 2023 to March 2024 and 29% for the period April 2022 to March 2023, but it is slightly declining from 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022 where successful prevention occurred in around two thirds of cases.

Relief from homelessness 

The proportion of households successfully relieved from homelessness remained relatively stable from 2016 to 2017 to 2019 to 2020. However, it has been decreasing since then, from 41% in 2019 to 2020 to 25% in 2024 to 2025.

Figure 5.7: percentage of households successfully prevented and relieved from homelessness, between financial years 2015 to 2016 and 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 5.7: line chart showing the percentages of households successfully prevented and relieved from homelessness in Wales between financial years 2015 to 2016 and 2024 to 2025. The chart shows the percentages of households successfully prevented from homelessness in Wales remained relatively constant between 2015 to 2016 and 2021 to 2022 before falling in 2022 to 2023 and remaining at a similar level for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. Similarly, the percentages of households successfully relieved from homelessness in Wales was also stable between 2016 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021 after which there was a drop in 2021 to 2022, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024, with this also the case in 2024 to 2025.

Source: Statutory Homelessness (main indicators)

Temporary accommodation

Monthly information shows as of 30 June 2025, 10,933 individuals were in temporary accommodation, a 3% decrease on the previous year, which is in contrast to the increases observed in the number of individuals in temporary accommodation over the past few years. Around a quarter of these (2,604) were dependent children aged under 16, a decrease of 10% from the previous year.

The most common type of temporary accommodation was bed and breakfast and hotels, housing 2,909 individuals.

Rough sleeping

As of 30 June 2025, there were an estimated 166 individuals sleeping rough throughout Wales. This is 13 more than the 153 individuals sleeping rough at 30 June 2024 and 7 fewer than the 173 individuals sleeping rough at 30 June 2023.

Pembrokeshire (31), Cardiff (28), Ceredigion (21), Swansea (16) and Newport (11) were the local authorities reporting the highest numbers of individuals sleeping rough. All other local authorities reported 9 or fewer individuals sleeping rough, with 3 local authorities reporting zero. 

Confidence in the justice system

A new national indicator was set in 2021 to measure the percentage of people who have confidence in the justice system. The justice system is wide and complex, with criminal and non-criminal aspects that require capturing in this indicator. 3 metrics have been selected to measure this indicator: perceived effectiveness of the criminal justice system, perceived fairness of the criminal justice system, and accessibility of the non-criminal justice system.

To assess perceptions of the criminal justice system, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) asks people aged 16 years and over whether: 

1. they are confident that the criminal justice system as a whole is effective
2. they agree that the criminal justice system as a whole is fair.

Just under half (48%) of all respondents in Wales were confident that the criminal justice system as a whole was effective in the financial year 2024 to 2025 CSEW. This has decreased compared to the 2019 to 2020 survey (54%).

65% of respondents in Wales agreed that the criminal justice system as a whole was fair in the 2024 to 2025 CSEW. This has increased since 2019 to 2020 (59%). 

To assess perceptions of the justice system beyond criminal justice, the accessibility of justice score from the Legal Needs Survey (conducted by the Law Society and the Legal Services Board) has been used. This score measures the degree to which someone thinks the justice system (excluding criminal justice) is accessible, considering issues such as ease of access, fairness and efficiency. 

In the 2023 Legal Needs Survey, around 1 in 4 people in Wales (24%) had a low score, indicating that they thought justice was not accessible. This has increased since 19% in the 2019 survey. The proportion of people with high scores, indicating they thought that justice was very accessible, decreased to 17% (from 24% in 2019), while the proportion of people with medium scores was similar (59% in 2023 compared to 58% in 2019).

Victims of crime and perceptions of crime

In financial year 2024 to 2025, 6% of adults in Wales were victims of crime (similar to 7% in the previous year) and 2% were victims of personal crime (same as the previous year). There has been a general downward trend in the available time series from 2015 to 2016 when the percentages were 15% and 4%.

Latest data on perceptions of crime in 2024 to 2025 shows around half of people in Wales (51%) believe crime has risen a lot nationally in recent years. This has increased from 41% in 2022 to 2023, and is similar to the pre-pandemic levels of 53% in 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 (there is no available data for 2020 to 2021 or 2021 to 2022). 

The percentage of those believing crime in their local area has risen a lot is much smaller (18%). This figure has returned to pre-pandemic levels observed in 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 after dropping to 11% in 2022 to 2023.

Police recorded crime

Police recorded crime in Wales (excluding fraud) decreased by 1% in financial year 2024 to 2025 compared with the previous year. Violence against the person decreased by 3%, although the rate per 1,000 of the population remains considerably higher than a decade ago (Figure 5.8). 

There were increases in 5 of the 9 main offence categories in 2024 to 2025 compared with the previous year, including drug offences (increased by 28%), miscellaneous crimes against society (increased by 22%) and sexual offences (increased by 11%). 

Among the other main offence categories, there were decreases in criminal damage and arson (decreased by 7%) and public order offences (decreased by 4%).

Reported fraud and computer misuse offences decreased by 4% in Wales between 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 although the rate remained the same at 5 offences per 1,000 population in Wales.

Figure 5.8: police recorded crime per 1,000 population, between financial years 2002 to 2003 and 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 5.8: line chart showing the rates of police recorded crime per 1,000 population in Wales between financial years 2002 to 2003 and 2024 to 2025. The chart shows theft offences have seen the biggest change in rates, falling from more than 50 per 1,000 population in 2002 to 2003 to around 20 per 1,000 population in recent years. Rates of violence against the person offences had been increasing since 2013 to 2014 and since 2018 to 2019 have the highest rate of those shown, although it decreased in 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. Criminal damage and arson saw a fall in rates until 2016 to 2017 but since this time have been stable up to the past couple of years which have seen slight falls in rates. Public order offences had the lowest rate per 1,000 population until 2020 to 2021 when the rate rose above that of criminal damage and arson.

Source: Police recorded crime (Office for National Statistics)

Hate crime

There was a 2% decrease in recorded hate crimes across Wales in financial year 2023 to 2024 compared to 2022 to 2023. There were 5,929 recorded hate crimes across the four Welsh police force areas, of which:

• 61% were race hate crimes
• 19% were sexual orientation hate crimes
• 13% were disability hate crimes
• 6% were religion hate crimes
• 5% were transgender hate crimes

Compared to 2022 to 2023, there were increases in the number of hate crimes with religion or transgender status as recorded motivating factors, while there were decreases in hate crimes with disability, race and sexual orientation as recorded motivating factors:

• 21% increase in religion hate crimes
• 1% increase in transgender hate crimes
• 11% decrease in disability hate crimes
• 7% decrease in sexual orientation hate crimes
• 3% decrease in race hate crimes

Whilst providing a good measure of the hate crime-related demand on the police, due to police forces making significant improvements in how they record crime since 2014, as well as improvements in identifying what constitutes a hate crime, police recorded crime figures do not currently provide reliable trends in hate crime. Figures from the police should also not be seen as a measure of prevalence of hate crime.

What factors are linked to people feeling safe in their local area?

What factors are linked to people being satisfied with the area that they live in?

What factors are linked to people feeling able to influence decisions affecting their local area?

What factors are linked to people agreeing that their local area has a sense of community?

Loneliness (National Survey for Wales): April 2022 to March 2023 

Loneliness Inequalities Evidence Review (Wales Centre for Public Policy)

Towards a Welsh Minimum Digital Living Standard: citizen and stakeholder perspectives