HALF of young people in Scotland have taken part in volunteering, campaigning or fundraising in the past year, a poll has found.

Millions of young people in the UK have done their bit for a community cause - and rates of involvement are higher north of the Border than anywhere else in the country.

Girls are more likely to take part than boys, according to the survey, which suggests youngsters are often involved in social action in their local communities.

The research says Scots are the most "socially active" in this field, with 49 per cent having taken part in such activities in the last year, compared to 39 per cent in England and in Wales and 36 per cent in Northern Ireland.

About 46 per cent of girls in the UK said they took part in social action in the last 12 months, compared to 35 per cent of boys, while 45 per cent of those from the richest backgrounds said they took part, compared to 34 per cent of those from the poorest.

The survey, which questioned more than 2,000 young people aged ten to 20, was commissioned to mark the first anniversary of the #iwill campaign.

The campaign is part of an ­initiative launched 12 months ago by the Prince of Wales, with support from senior politicians including David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

It aims to raise the number of young people taking part in ­meaningful social action to 60 per cent - about 4.5 million people - by 2020, by offering youngsters more opportunities and making it easier for them to get involved.

The findings show that in the past year, 40 per cent took part in meaningful social action - about three million people - while a further 17 per cent said they had participated infrequently and 43 per cent said they had not taken part.

Charlotte Hill, chief executive of Step Up To Serve, the organisation co-ordinating the #iwill campaign, said: "This research shows clearly that there is a real appetite among young people to get involved and contribute to the communities in which they live.

"By helping others, young people are also developing their own skills and character - so there's a double benefit. We want organisations across society to help us generate more opportunities for young people to play their part. They have so much to offer."

The most common activity among those young people who said they had taken part in social action was fundraising, followed by volunteering for charity, ­helping someone in their local community, mentoring, helping to improve the local area and non-political campaigning.

The vast majority of those ­questioned said the social action they were involved in had benefited them personally as well as others, the survey found.

The three most common ways young people said it had benefited them were that they had enjoyed helping others, they had fun and they believed in the cause they were helping, while the three most common ways they said their activity had helped others was because the money raised went to a good cause, other people had fun and the lives of others had improved.

Causes helped were much more likely to be local than have a national or international focus, the survey found, and youngsters were most likely to get involved through their school or college.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said: "It's just a year since the launch of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's Step Up to Serve campaign, but it's already making a difference to young people's lives and giving them the chance to support their local communities.

"It's an opportunity millions of committed young people across the country are ­looking for. They want to do their bit. They want to change the world and build successful lives for themselves.

"Step Up to Serve is ensuring that they can develop their skills and make Britain a better place."