Census 2011: Key results on Population, Ethnicity, Identity, Language, Religion, Health, Housing and Accommodation in Scotland – Release 2A

The latest results from the 2011 Census in Scotland show that Scotland is becoming more ethnically and religiously diverse, with an increasing number of people who live in Scotland being born outside of the UK.

The statistics published today by the Registrar General for Scotland on the Scotland’s Census  website, provide estimates of many of the defining characteristics of the population as well as information on tenure and car ownership at national, council area and health board level.

Key points

Marital and civil partnership status

• Whilst still the most common status, the proportion of adults [Footnote 1] in Scotland who are married decreased by five percentage points since 2001 to 45 per cent.
• The proportion of adults who are single (never married or never registered a same-sex civil partnership) rose to 35 per cent in 2011, an increase of five percentage points (300,000 people) from 2001.
• There were 7,000 people (0.2 per cent of adults) who reported that they were in registered same-sex civil partnerships.

Ethnic group

• Four per cent of people in Scotland were from minority ethnic groups [Footnote 2] – an increase of two percentage points since 2001.
• The Asian population is the largest minority ethnic group (three per cent of the total population or 141,000 people) and has seen an increase of one percentage point (69,000) since 2001.
• Just over one per cent (1.2 per cent or 61,000) of the population recorded their ethnic group as White: Polish. The cities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen had the highest proportions at three per cent of their total respective populations.
• A ‘White: Gypsy / Traveller’ response category was added in 2011. There were 4,200 people who recorded their ethnic group in this category (0.1 per cent of all people in Scotland). The highest figure was in Perth and Kinross (400 people; 0.3 per cent of the total population of that area).
• In Glasgow City, 12 per cent of the population were from a minority ethnic group, in City of Edinburgh and Aberdeen City it was eight per cent and Dundee City it was six per cent. These areas also saw the largest increases since 2001 in the proportion of their populations who are from minority ethnic groups.

Country of birth

• Ninety-three per cent of the people in Scotland stated they were born within the UK, a decrease of three percentage points since 2001. Eighty-three per cent of the population were born in Scotland, nine per cent in England, 0.7 per cent in Northern Ireland and 0.3 per cent in Wales.
• Of the seven per cent (369,000) people in Scotland who were not born in the UK, 15 per cent (55,000) were born in Poland, and six per cent (23,000) were born in each of India and the Republic of Ireland.
• Every council area in Scotland saw an increase between 2001 and 2011 in the proportion of the population who were born outside the UK

Age and year of arrival in the UK

• Over two-thirds (69 per cent) of people living in Scotland who were born abroad were of working age (16-64 years old) when they arrived in the UK.
• Over half (55 per cent) of people living in Scotland who were born abroad arrived between 2004 and March 2011. 

National identity

• Eighty-three per cent of the population of Scotland felt they had some Scottish national identity.
• Sixty-two per cent of people felt Scottish only, 18 per cent felt both Scottish and British and two per cent felt they were Scottish in combination with some other identity.
• Eight per cent of people felt they only had a British national identity only, two per cent felt English only and two per cent felt they had some other combination of UK identities (excluding Scottish).
• The remaining four per cent felt they did not have any UK national identity.

English language proficiency

• Over one per cent (1.4 per cent or 73,000) of people aged 3 and over in Scotland were reported as being unable to speak English well or at all.

Gaelic language

• Just over one per cent (1.1 per cent or 58,000 people) of the population aged 3 and over in Scotland were able to speak Gaelic, a slight fall from 1.2 per cent (59,000) in 2001.
• There were decreases in the proportion of people able to speak Gaelic in all age groups apart from those aged under 20 years which showed a 0.1 percentage point increase.

Language used at home

• Ninety-three per cent of people aged 3 and over in Scotland reported that they used only English at home.
• One per cent (54,000) of people aged 3 and over used Polish at home.
• 0.2 per cent (13,000) of people reported using British Sign Language at home.

Religion

• Over half (54 per cent) of the population of Scotland stated their religion as Christian - a decrease of 11 percentage points since 2001- whilst 37 per cent of people stated that they had no religion - an increase of nine percentage points since 2001.
• In terms of  the Christian denominations, 32 per cent of the population (1.7 million) stated they belonged to the Church of Scotland - a decrease of 10 percentage points since 2001 - whilst the proportion of people who stated they were Roman Catholic remained the same as in 2001 at 16 per cent (0.8 million).
• Over one per cent (1.4 per cent or 77,000 people) reported that they were Muslim - an increase of 0.6 percentage points since 2001.
• The numbers of Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs together accounted for 0.7 per cent of the population in 2011 and all saw increases between 2001 and 2011.
• The number of Jewish people has declined slightly to just under 6,000.

Health and long term limiting illness

• The majority (82 per cent) of the population stated their health was good or very good.
• The proportion of people in Scotland who reported a long-term activity-limiting health problem or disability was 20 per cent, the same proportion as reported in 2001.

 Carers

• The proportion of people providing unpaid care to family members or friends has remained at 9 per cent since 2001.
• There was an increase in the number of hours of care which these unpaid caregivers carry out per week, with 44 per cent (219,000) of them providing 20 or more hours of care a week, compared with 37 per cent (176,000) in 2001.

Tenure

• Compared with 2001, the proportion of households who own their accommodation has stayed fairly constant at around 62 per cent, though 28 per cent now own their property outright, compared to 23 per cent in 2001.
• The proportion of households renting their accommodation from a council or housing association decreased by five percentage points since 2001 to 24 per cent.
• The private rented sector (including living rent free) increased by six percentage points since 2001 to 14 per cent (150,000) of all households.

Car and van availability

• Sixty-nine per cent of households in Scotland had at least one car or van available for use in 2011 compared with 66 per cent in 2001.
• The availability of a car or van varies across the country with 86 per cent of households in Aberdeenshire having at least one car or van available compared to 49 per cent in Glasgow City.

 Communal establishments

• Just under two per cent (99,000) of people in Scotland lived in a communal establishment on census day in 2011.
• Of these people, 38 per cent (38,000) were in education establishments, 37 per cent (36,000) were in care homes and a further 6 per cent (6,000) were in other medical and care establishments.

Commenting on the results, Registrar General for Scotland and Chief Executive of  National Records of Scotland, Tim Ellis said

“The census results have already shown that Scotland’s population has grown over the past decade. These latest results paint a detailed picture of Scottish society and it’s a more multi-cultural picture than we have seen before. There is more ethnic and religious diversity. We have more people living in all areas of Scotland who were born outside of the UK than ever before and we are using an increasing number of languages.

The data released today will help us all plan for the future of Scotland using accurate information showing who we are and how we live. Further layers of vital information will be revealed as we publish more detailed data for very local levels over the coming months.”

The full publication, ‘2011 Census: Key Results on Population, Ethnicity, Identity, Language, Religion, Health, Housing and Accommodation in Scotland - Release 2A’ and relevant data can be found on the Scotland's Census website.