Exploring Regional Differences in Scotland's Economic Wellbeing

Smart Data Foundry’s Economic Wellbeing Explorer is an interactive map-based tool that helps to explore trends and themes in economic wellbeing at a national, regional and local level. Tailored for governments, NGOs, policy teams, and service providers, the Economic Wellbeing Explorer presents a dynamic, multi-level view of financial wellbeing, empowering smarter resource planning, service design, policy development, and evidence-driven interventions.

Key Scotland Metrics

Updated with data up to 31 August, the Economic Wellbeing Explorer shows a relatively static picture month-on-month. While no large increases are positive, many people remain in difficult financial positions; high rates of low emergency resilience persist, with those in this category being more likely to be negatively impacted by unexpected expenses or sudden cost increases.

• Proportion of people with overdrawn accounts: 16% (no change month on month, no change from last year)
• Proportion of people spending more than 120% of income: 11% (no change MoM, decrease from 18% last year)
• Proportion of people with low emergency resilience: 35% (up 1% MoM, increase from 34% last year)

While the Scottish summer holidays ended during this period, at the national level this appears to have had a minimal impact on overdrawn accounts or people living beyond their means. What has been impacted is people’s financial resilience, likely due to increased costs over the summer holidays such as extra childcare or entertainment, feeding kids at home and summer clubs or activities; eroding financial buffers in people's accounts. Regional data, explored below, paints a slighty more complex picture.

Year on year there have been some signficant improvements; there has been a 7% decrease in people living beyond their means from August 2024 to August 2025. Our Nowcast shows that incomes have improved in recent months, perhaps enabling more people to make ends meet over the summer holidays. Paired with no change in overdraft usage and a 1% increase in low emergency resilience this can read as a positive development, with less people over spending without an increase of people going into overdraft. A slight increase in low emergency resilience, 2 or more balance events below a threshold of £100, over the preceding month appears to be aligned with these changes in financial habits.

Regional Differences

Often discussed is the national level metrics from our Economic Wellbeing Explorer, but there is also regional data that can be used to delve deeper into local regions, variations, and trends. 

Across Scotland people have a similar level of living beyond their means, spending more than 120% of income, regardless of their area. Where we see more fluctuation is within low emergency resilience and overdrawn accounts. This is most prominent in West Central Scotland with a 1% monthly increase across all of our main measures; overdrawn accounts to 18% (compared to the next highest of 16%) and low emergency resilience increasing to 39% (compared to the next highest of 35%). 

 Key take away

• Living beyond means, spending 120% of income, sits at similar rates across Scotland and seems to increase at the same rate.
• A third of people in the sample have low emergency resilience, this higher in urban areas.
• All regions have had an increase in low emergency resilience which may be due to additional costs during the school holidays.

We can see that many urban areas have a higher usage of overdrafts and lower emergency resilience. Low emergency resilience is the only criteria that has grown across all regions month on month, this is worrying as these people are more likely to be negatively impacted by unexpected financial burdens such as sudden pricing increases or unexpected expenses as they lack sufficient a financial buffer to cover a sudden expense. This increase being consistent across regions could be an impact of the increased expenditure many households face over the summer and school holidays with increased need for things such as childcare and entertainment for children during this period.

Coming Soon to a Local Authority Near You

Currently focused on Scotland, the Economic Wellbeing Explorer enables organisations to design targeted, place-based interventions that reflect the unique financial landscape of each community. Whether refining national strategies or enhancing local service delivery, the Explorer is a critical tool for unlocking the power of data in the fight against poverty and inequality.

From late 2025, the Economic Wellbeing Explorer will be rolled out to England and Wales, expanding its reach and impact across Great Britain. Register your interest here.