Census results on health, disability and unpaid care

New figures from Scotland’s Census show the number of people who reported having a mental health condition more than doubled between 2011 and 2022. 

In 2022 617,100 people reported in the census that they had a mental health condition. The census form described this as a condition that affects your emotional, physical and mental wellbeing.

The increase from 4.4% to 11.3% of the population was the biggest change across the range of categories listed in the census question on health conditions. 

A large increase in the number of younger people reporting mental health conditions is behind the increase. 

Director of Census Statistics Jon Wroth-Smith said: 

“In 2022 15.4% of people aged 16 to 24 reported having a mental health condition up from 2.5% in 2011. 

“Females in this age group were twice as likely to report having a mental health condition at 20.4% compared to males at 10.5%.

“There were also increases in older age groups but the biggest increases were seen in younger groups and it is now more common for younger people to report a mental health condition. This is the reverse of what we saw in 2011.” 

Under the broad category of long term illness, disease or condition, including conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer and epilepsy, there was an increase from 18.7% in 2011 to 21.4% in 2022. 

After accounting for age 6.8% of the population said they were in bad or very bad health in 2022. This is up from 5.9% in 2011. The census found Glasgow City council area had the highest percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health at 10.8% while Aberdeenshire had the lowest at 4.2%. 

Comparable figures for England and Wales show 5.4% of people reported bad or very bad health in the 2021 census, while in Northern Ireland it was 8.2% of people. 

The census recorded 627,700 people providing unpaid care, a 27.5% increase on the numbers at the previous census in 2011. Most unpaid carers are aged 50 or over and 58.8% are female. More than half of unpaid carers (55.9%) spent 1 to 19 hours per week providing support. Another 24.3% spent 50 or more hours per week providing support. 

Over the same period there was a 15.7% increase in the number of people with a health problem or disability that limited their day to day activities a lot, up 79,600. There was a 35.7% increase in the number whose day to day activities were limited a little, up 190,900.  

This was driven by Scotland’s ageing population with children of the baby booms of previous decades now in older age. The percentage of people aged 75 or older who have a health problem that limits their day-to-day activities actually decreased over the decade (from 67.1% to 62.5%). But the overall increase in older people meant there was an increase in the number of older people with an activity-limiting health problem.

Younger age groups also saw increases in those with a health problem that limited their day-to-day activities. In the 16 to 34 category the number almost doubled from 93,300 to 183,700. This means around 1 in 7 people aged 16 to 34 had a health problem that limited their activities. However more people in that group reported their activities were limited a little rather than a lot. Older age groups (75+) are more likely to be limited a lot. 

Today’s census report on health, disability and unpaid care is the seventh and final in the series of headline publications from Scotland’s Census 2022. 

Later in the year multivariate census outputs – the ability to combine data from different topic areas – will be available

This will allow people and organisations across Scotland, including government, charities and other service providers to build a detailed picture of Scotland and its people.

ENDS

Notes

• The full report can be found on the Scotland’s Census website and the data tables which include breakdowns by local authority and other geographies can be accessed from the data tab on the home page. 
• The figures for general health are age standardised percentages. This allows us to compare Scotland with other parts of the UK and to compares areas within Scotland with each other. Without age-standardisation areas with more older people would appear to be less healthy. 
• The census asked if people had a health condition which had lasted or was expected to last more than twelve months. A list of conditions was presented along with descriptions. People were asked to tick all that apply. The question included tick boxes for learning disabilities, learning difficulties and developmental disorders. However we have not included the data for these categories in this release. There were changes to how these three conditions were presented on the census form in 2022. We are undertaking further quality assurance of this data and will provide an update when complete.