Census 2011: Release 3E

Census 2011: Release 3E - Detailed characteristics on Population and Households in Scotland

The statistics published today by the Registrar General for Scotland on the Scotland’s Census website present further details on population and households (Release 3E), from national to local level.

Key points - Release 3E

Dependent children by family type

• In 2011, there were 1.5 million families living in households in Scotland. Of these, 65 per cent (967,000) were married couple families, 16 per cent (237,000) were cohabiting couple families and 19 per cent (291,000) were lone parent families.
• Of the 614,000 families with dependent children [Footnote 1], 54 per cent (333,000) were married couple families, 15 per cent (91,000) were cohabiting couple families and 31 per cent (190,000) were lone parent families.
• Of the 304,000 families with one dependent child, 46 per cent (140,000) were married couple families, 16 per cent (49,000) were cohabiting couple families and 38 per cent (115,000) were lone parent families. The corresponding proportions for the 310,000 families with two or more dependent children were 62 per cent (193,000), 14 per cent (42,000) and 24 per cent (75,000) respectively.
• Of families with dependent children, step-families made up 8 per cent (26,000) of married couple families and 29 per cent (26,000) of cohabiting couple families. For married couple families, step-families made up 8 per cent of families with one dependent child, 6 per cent of families with two dependent children and 12 per cent of families with three or more dependent children. For cohabiting couple families, step-families made up 24 per cent of families with one dependent child, 31 per cent of families with two dependent children and 46 per cent of families with three or more dependent children. Step-families accounted for just over half (54 per cent) of the 15,000 cohabiting couple families where the youngest dependent child was aged 12 or over.

People in communal establishments - ethnic group

• In 2011, 2 per cent (99,000) of Scotland’s population lived in a communal establishment in Scotland. (Communal establishments provide managed residential accommodation, for example student halls of residence, care homes and prisons.) For most types of communal establishment, the ethnic profile of the people living in them was broadly similar to that of the total population. The main exceptions to this were ‘halls of residence and student accommodation’ and ‘schools and other education establishments’, where the proportions of people with an ethnic background of ‘Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British’ were 18 per cent and 9 per cent respectively, compared with 3 per cent of the total population.

People in communal establishments - marital and civil partnership status

• In 2011, 61 per cent of the 96,000 people aged 16 and over living in communal establishments were single (never married or never registered a same sex civil partnership) and 24 per cent were widowed. These were higher than the corresponding proportions in the total population – which were 35 per cent and 8 per cent respectively – reflecting the fact that adult care homes and student accommodation each accounted for over a third of the population in communal establishments.

People in communal establishments - type of resident by sex by age

• Not surprisingly, the age profile of people living in different types of communal establishment reflected the nature of the establishment. For example, 87 per cent of the 38,000 people living in adult care homes were aged 65 and over; 87 per cent of the 34,000 people living in halls of residence and student accommodation were aged 16 to 24; and 91 per cent of the 2,600 people living in defence establishments were aged 16 to 34.
• In 2011, 47 per cent of people living in communal establishments were male. This proportion ranged from 31 per cent in adult care homes to 75 per cent in hostels for the homeless, 90 per cent in defence establishments and 95 per cent in prisons.

The other tables included in Release 3E are mainly ‘Local Characteristics’ (LC) versions of tables that have been published as ‘Detailed Characteristics’ (DC) tables in this or in previous releases. They provide information down to census output area (the lowest level of geography for which census tables are produced) but generally include less detailed categories than the DC version of the tables as a statistical disclosure control measure. The tables are on:

• Family composition by age of Family Reference Person (DC)
• Dependent children by household type by sex by age (DC)
• Age of youngest dependent child by family type (DC)
• Living arrangements by age – Household Reference Persons (LC)
• Residence type by sex by age (LC)
• Dependent children by household type by age (LC)
• Dependent children by family type (LC)
• Age of youngest dependent child by family type (LC).

All the data contained in this release can be accessed on the Scotland’s Census website.

 Footnote
1. Dependent children are those aged under 16, or aged 16 to 18 and in full-time education living with at least one parent, excluding those who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.