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A National Statistics Publication for Scotland

Published: 21 May 2024

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This report presents census data on religion, ethnic group, country of birth, national identity and language. These statistics show how Scotland, its people and its culture are changing. Key themes include migration and Scotland’s ageing population.

Religion

For the first time in Scotland’s Census, the majority of people said they had no religion. In 2022 51.1% of people had no religion, up from 36.7% in 2011.

Scotland’s Census asked people what religion they belong to. This was a voluntary question, first used in 2001. In 2022 6.2% of people did not answer the religion question. Percentages are calculated using the overall population, not just those who answered the religion question.

The percentage of people with no religion has increased since 2001.

Other UK countries also saw increases in the percentage of people with no religion over recent decades. Census data from England and Wales shows a similar trend to Scotland but from a lower starting point. In 2021 37.2% had no religion, up from 14.8% in 2001. Census data from Northern Ireland shows an increase from 13.9% in 2001 (no religion and no response combined) to 17.4% in 2021 (no religion only).

The increase in people with no religion in Scotland coincided with a decrease in people who said they belong to the Church of Scotland. In 2022 20.4% responded ‘Church of Scotland’, down from 32.4% in 2011 and from 42.4% in 2001. This is a fall of 610,100 people since 2011, and over 1 million since 2001. However ‘Church of Scotland’ remained the largest group among those who said they had a religion.

The next largest religious groups were ‘Roman Catholic’ (13.3%), ‘Other Christian’ (5.1%) and ‘Muslim’ (2.2%). These groups saw smaller changes since the last census than ‘Church of Scotland’. The number of people who described themselves as Roman Catholic decreased by 117,700 since 2011, whilst the number in the Other Christian category decreased by 12,000. The number of people who described themselves as Muslim increased by 43,100 over the same period.

Males (53.8%) were more likely to have no religion than females (48.6%). This was also true in 2011 and 2001.

Young people are more likely to say they have no religion than people in older age groups. This was true in 2001 when this question was first asked, and in each census since.

Between 2011 and 2022 we saw increases in the ‘no religion’ category across all age groups. In the 65+ age group the number with no religion has more than doubled since 2011 - an increase of 186,700 people (from 14.1% to 28.6%).

The size of the increases in ‘no religion’ across age groups suggests it is not only due to younger people, who are less religious on average, becoming a decade older and moving up between age categories. Some people in each age group appear to have described themselves as having a religion in 2011, but not in 2022.

‘No religion’ was the most common response in every council area in Scotland except in Na h-Eileanan Siar and Inverclyde, where ‘Church of Scotland’ (35.3%) and ‘Roman Catholic’ (33.4%) were the most common responses respectively. In Na h-Eileanan Siar the percentage of people with no religion increased from 11.4% in 2001 to 29.9% in 2022. These increases are similar in proportion to the increases seen across Scotland, but from a much lower starting point.

Ethnic group

The percentage of people in Scotland with a minority ethnic background increased from 8.2% in 2011 to 12.9% in 2022. This is a larger increase than over the previous decade (from 4.5% to 8.2%).

Scotland’s Census asked people to choose the option that best described their ethnic group or background. The majority of people in Scotland chose ‘Scottish’ (77.7%) or ‘Other British’ (9.4%) within the White category. In 2022 these groups together made up 87.1% of the population.

‘Minority ethnic group’ is used here to refer to all other ethnic groups. This includes some ethnic groups that were in the White category on the census form such as Irish, Polish, Gypsy/Traveller, Roma and Showman/Showwoman.

The increase in people from minority ethnic backgrounds was driven by increases across several different groups.

Irish 1.05%, Polish 1.67%, Gypsy/Traveller 0.06%, Roma 0.06%, Showman/Showwoman 0.03%, Other White 2.92%, Mixed or multiple ethnic group 1.12%, Pakistani 1.34%, Indian 0.97%, Bangladeshi 0.13%, Chinese 0.87%, Other Asian 0.59%, Black African 1.08%, Black Caribbean 0.12%, Arab 0.41%, Other ethnic group 0.5%.

Notes: (1) Category order matches the 2022 census form. Tick boxes were grouped under broad headings: ‘White’, 'Mixed or multiple’, ‘Asian’, ‘African’, ‘Caribbean or Black’ and ‘Other’. (2) The ‘Roma’ and ‘Showman/Showwoman’ ethnic group options were added in 2022 so there is no comparable data for 2011. (3) The ‘Gypsy/Traveller’ numbers for 2022 are not fully comparable with 2011. Some people in the ‘Showman/Showwoman’ and ‘Roma’ ethnic groups in 2022 might have ticked ‘Gypsy/Traveller’ in 2011.

The ‘Other white’ category saw an increase of 56,600 people. Around three out of four people in this group had European heritage – they wrote in ‘European’, or wrote in a European country to define their ethnic background.

The ‘Mixed or multiple ethnic group’ category saw an increase of 41,000 people. This category contains a wide range of write-in responses.

The ‘Other ethnic group’ category saw an increase of 22,400 people. This category also contains a wide range of write-in responses. No single group accounted for more than 10% of write-in responses in this category.

We will publish more information on write-in responses later in 2024.

The ‘Polish’ category saw an increase of 29,500 people. 'City' council areas were amongst those with the highest representation of people with a Polish ethnic background. Aberdeen City (4.4%) had the highest percentage, followed by City of Edinburgh (3.2%). However the Polish ethnic group is more spread out across Scotland than most other minority ethnic groups. More than half of people with a Polish background live outside of the four 'City' council areas (54.2%).

Census data allows us to look at how smaller areas within a council area compare. Looking closer at Aberdeen City we can see that the percentage of people from a Polish background is highest towards the centre of the council area. Tillydrone / Seaton / Old Aberdeen was the ward with the highest percentage of people with a Polish background (13.2%).

Country of birth and Scotland’s ageing population

Population change is driven by births, deaths and migration (people moving into or out of Scotland). The increase in Scotland’s minority ethnic population is partly explained by people moving to Scotland from overseas between 2011 and 2022.

The percentage of people born outside the UK increased from 7.0% to 10.2% between 2011 and 2022. We also know that an increasing share of births in Scotland are to mothers born outside the UK (Table 3.13, NRS Vital Events Reference Tables 2022).

The census asked people how well they understand, speak, read and write English. Whilst the number of people born outside the UK has increased since 2011, the overall percentage of people with good English language skills was similar. In 2022 94.2% of people said they speak, read and write English well or very well, compared to 93.8% in 2011.

Scotland’s population grew by 144,400 (2.7%) since 2011. Looking at population change by country of birth helps show the effect of migration. Between 2011 and 2022 the number of people living in Scotland who were born in Scotland decreased by 90,400.

This decrease was offset by increases in the number who were born in the rest of the UK (up 49,200) and born overseas (up 185,600). So the increase in Scotland’s population was driven by an increase in people born outside of Scotland.

Scotland’s population is ageing. There were more people in the older age groups in 2022 than ever recorded in Scotland's Census. There were over one million people aged 65 and over (1,090,600). This is 60.7% higher than the number aged 20 to 29 (678,900). And 55.1% higher than the number aged 30 to 39 (703,300).

Looking at age by country of birth helps show the effect of migration. If we look at only people born in Scotland, we see larger relative differences between the size of older and younger age groups. There are 911,100 people who were born in Scotland and aged 65 and over. This is 85.5% higher than the number aged 20 to 29 (491,100). And 82.8% higher than the number aged 30 to 39 (498,300).

So while Scotland’s population is ageing, migration from the rest of the UK and overseas means we have more people in younger age groups than we otherwise would. This is offsetting the higher numbers in older age groups to some extent, resulting in a slightly flatter age distribution.

In 2022 17.8% of Scotland’s population aged between 20 and 39 were born outside the UK. But the overall percentage of people born outside the UK is still relatively small (10.2%).

National identity

The percentage of people who said Scottish was their only national identity increased since the previous census (from 62.4% to 65.5%). The percentage who said their only national identity was British also increased (from 8.4% to 13.9%). The percentage who said they felt Scottish and British decreased (from 18.3% to 8.2%).

A higher percentage of females (66.3%) said their only national identity was Scottish compared to males (64.6%).

Gaelic and Scots

Scotland’s Census found that 2.5% of people aged 3 and over had some skills in Gaelic in 2022. This is an increase of 43,100 people since 2011 when 1.7% had some skills in Gaelic. In 2001 1.9% had some Gaelic skills, similar to 2011.

In Na h-Eileanan Siar the majority had some Gaelic skills (57.2%). This was far higher than the next highest council areas, Highland (8.1%) and Argyll and Bute (6.2%). In all other council areas less than 3% of people aged 3 and over had some Gaelic skills.

The percentage of people aged 3 and over with some skills in Scots also increased, to 46.2% in 2022 from 37.7% in 2011. The percentage with Scots skills was higher in the north east of Scotland. Aberdeenshire had the highest percentage with some Scots skills (64.1%) and Na h-Eileanan Siar had the lowest (30.7%).

British Sign Language

Scotland’s Census found that 117,300 people can use British Sign Language (BSL), 2.2% of people aged 3 and over.

The census included a new question on the use of BSL in 2022. This means we do not have comparable data for previous censuses. The new question asked whether people can use BSL. In the previous census information on BSL use was only collected through the question “Do you use a language other than English at home?”.

Two out of every three BSL users are female (67.0%). And we know that females make up a larger proportion of the workforce in the education and health and social work industries (Table 1, Scotland’s Labour Market: People, Places and Regions – industry tables).

This is likely to be contributing to the high percentage BSL users that are female. We will be able to combine data from different census questions to look into patterns like this later in 2024.

Around 2,600 people consider sign language to be their main language, but not all will be BSL users.

Small area population change

In the first release of data from Scotland’s Census 2022 we looked at population change in Scotland across council areas. The population data in this release allows us to go further and look at changes in smaller areas.

The Highlands council area saw a 1.4% increase in population between 2011 and 2022. But population change varied substantially between electoral wards across the council area. Ten of the twenty-one wards saw a decrease in their population. The largest decreases were in Inverness Millburn (down 8.2%) and Thurso and Northwest Caithness (down 7.0%). The largest increase was in Inverness South (up 27.7%).