1 Executive summary

This report analyses the Scottish component of the 2023 Online Time Use Survey (OTUS 2023) with a focus on differences by sex. The Scottish sample was made up of 852 respondents, the majority of whom completed two diaries, one on a weekday and one on a weekend totalling 1,579 diary days. Data was weighted in order to correct for differences in sample size between groups, and to ensure they reflect the profile of the Scottish population.

Participants filled in online time use diaries detailing their daily activities. The main activities analysed in this report are:

paid work which includes working from home and away from home for monetary reward
unpaid work which includes a number of activities: housework/cooking; household management; childcare; travel; study and other unpaid work
free time which includes a range of social, leisure, cultural and entertainment activities, such as watching the television, or hiking
personal care which includes activities which a person does for themselves, such as sleeping or eating

For a more detailed discussion of the activities that fall within each of these four categories please see the glossary to this report.

1.1 Key findings

women spent more time than men on unpaid work, which was especially true for housework/cooking
women with children spent the most time on unpaid work compared to all other groups, and spent longer on housework/cooking compared to men with children
men spent longer than women on other leisure activities, which include playing online games, listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks, streaming video content or watching TV, and others
men with children spent longer in paid work compared to both men and women without children
men without children spent the most time on free time activities, while women with children spent the least time on this of all groups