Scotland food bank parcels distributed
Scotland food bank parcels distributed stood at 218,838 Parcels in 2025. It is one of the indicators in the Food bank parcels table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2015 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Food bank parcels table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total food parcels distributed | |||||||||||
| Scotland | 218,838 | 250,451 | 276,866 | 243,062 | 195,286 | 233,157 | 238,363 | 199,926 | 170,290 | 143,911 | |
| Wales | 154,040 | 178,308 | 198,912 | 163,550 | 130,126 | 151,786 | 129,059 | 109,989 | 99,922 | 93,079 |
Understanding scotland food bank parcels distributed
Focusing on Scotland, this series tallies the overall number of emergency food parcels distributed across Scottish local authorities within each financial year. It consolidates aid designated for adults and children, separating Scottish operations from the broader Great Britain aggregate and sibling national rows. Unaffiliated community pantries, local authority crisis grants and independent food banks operate outside this system and are not reflected in the tally.
Because the metric logs transactions, single individuals or domestic units receiving repeated crisis support are registered upon each discrete collection. Annual totals avoid the intra-year volatility caused by winter heating pressures, ensuring that year-on-year evaluation reflects genuine operational shifts rather than calendar timing. Cross-border comparisons should be approached carefully, as devolved Scottish welfare support mechanisms and variations in local food bank coverage alter how assistance is sought and recorded.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this Scottish series capture aid distributed outside the network?
- Only food parcels provided through affiliated distribution centres in Scotland are included, omitting independent community providers.
- Are child parcels reported separately in this row?
- This series combines parcels distributed to adults and children into an overarching national count for Scotland.
- Why might parcel numbers diverge from general poverty trends in Scotland?
- The availability of devolved Scottish crisis grants and independent food aid networks alters reliance on network parcels independently of poverty levels.