Dave Rawnsley gives a brief introduction to Scotland’s Census 2022 data that is now available via the UK Data Service catalogue.
On Tuesday 21 May, the National Records for Scotland (NRS) released its first tranche of unrounded data from the delayed 2022 Census of Scotland. A total of 24 tables are available at Output Area (OA), the smallest level of geography available at an area that contains approximately 50 households. The data tables are also available for Health Board Area, Scottish Parliamentary Constituency and UK Parliamentary Constituency level as well as other administrative zones.
The released tables are in three topic areas – ‘Demography and Migration’,’ Housing’ and ‘Ethnic Group, National Identity, Language and Religion’.
The first key finding of this release is that, according to NRS, “a majority of people said they had no religion”. A total of 51.1% in Scotland’s Census 2022 responded ‘no religion’ – up from 36.7% in 2011. ‘No religion’ was the most common response in almost every council area in Scotland. In Na h-Eileanan Siar, ‘Church of Scotland’ remained the most common response and in Inverclyde ‘Roman Catholic’ was the most common response.
In 2022 the number of people that came from a minority ethnic background saw an increase of 8.2% from the 2011 Census to 12.9%. This figure includes all those from an ethnic minority background including Polish, Irish, Gypsy/Traveller and Roma groups. The increase in people from minority ethnic backgrounds was driven by increases across several different groups.
Without people who migrated into Scotland since 2011 there would have been a decrease in the overall population, however it grew by 2.7%. As with the rest of the UK, the Scottish population is aging, there are now over 1 million people aged over 65, the younger age groups show more people who were born outside Scotland as a percentage.
All the tables and metadata are available through our searchable platform along with all the releases from the England, Wales and Northern Ireland 2021 census and data from censuses back to 1971.
Scotland’s Census is a vital resource for policymakers, researchers, and communities. It informs decisions related to public services, infrastructure, and social programs. By understanding population trends and household structures, we can better address the needs of this diverse population.
The NRS outputs schedule has releases all through Summer and Autumn of 2024:
13 June 2024 – Armed Forces veterans
27 June 2024 – Sexual orientation and trans status or history
August 2024 – Demography and migration
August 2024 – Housing
September 2024 – Education, labour market and travel to work
September 2024 – Health, disability and unpaid care
As soon as data is released it will be in https://statistics.ukdataservice.ac.uk
The full list of this release:
UV101b – Usual resident population by sex by age (6 categories)
UV102b – Age (20 categories) by sex
UV103 – Age by single year
UV201 – Ethnic group
UV201b – Ethnic group (19 categories) by age (6 categories)
UV202 – National Identity
UV202b – National identity by sex by age (6 categories)
UV203 – Multiple ethnic groups
UV204b – Country of birth (14 categories) by sex by age (6 categories)
UV205 – Religion
UV205b – Religion (12 categories) by sex by age (6 categories)
UV206 – Passports held
UV206b – Passports held (9 categories) by sex by age (6 categories)
UV208 – Gaelic language skills
UV208b – Gaelic language skills (2 categories) by age (6 categories)
UV209 – Scots language skills
UV209b – Scots language skills (7 categories) by age
UV210 – English language skills
UV210b – English language skills (6 categories) by age (6 categories)
UV211 – British Sign Language (BSL) skills
Uv211b – British Sign Language (BSL) skills by age (6 categories)
UV212 – Main language
UV212b – Main language (5 categories) by age (6 categories)
UV406 – Household size
About the author
Dave Rawnsley is Senior Technical Co-ordinator for the UK Data Service. He leads the UK Data Service Aggregate Data Unit, based at Jisc.