Health

This chapter will explore health-related indicators produced by Scotland’s Census 2022 data.

Disability

The Census asked “Are your day-to-day activities limited because of a health problem or disability which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months?” The question also asked people to include problems related to old age.

Overall, the proportion of Gypsy/Travellers that reported a limiting long-term health condition or disability was higher than the rest of Scotland. Nearly a quarter (23.4%) of Gypsy/Travellers reported being limited a lot while 16.2% reported being limited a little. This is higher than the rest of Scotland where about 10.8% reported being limited a lot and about 13.3% reported being limited a little.

Table 13: Percentage of Gypsy/Travellers and the rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by health problem or disability

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

NRS identified that there is a strong link between age and disability, where older people are more likely to have a health problem or disability that limits their day to day activities. This can also be found in the Census data for Gypsy/Travellers. Figure 10 shows that Gypsy/Travellers aged 35 and over were far more likely to report being limited a lot by general health or disability than those under the age of 35 (75.7% and 23.9% respectively).

Figure 10: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller, by health problem or disability and age

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

As shown in Figure 11 below, female Gypsy/Travellers and females in the rest of Scotland were both more likely to report a health condition or disability that is limiting a lot or little than males in each group. However, both female and male Gypsy/Travellers were more likely to report a limiting health condition or disability than female and male people in the rest of Scotland.

Figure 11: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller, by sex, of health condition or disability that is limiting of day to day activities a lot or a little

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

Physical Health

The Census asked respondents to indicate whether they had a condition that limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, lifting or carrying. Among Gypsy/Travellers, 17.9% reported that they did while 9.7% of the rest of Scotland reported this.

General Health

Overall, the Gypsy/Traveller community reported poorer general health in comparison to the rest of Scotland (Figure 12). A much higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers reported bad or very bad health compared to the rest of Scotland (18.9% and 6.9% respectively).

Figure 12: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland excluding Gypsy/Travellers, by general health

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

NRS analysis of self-assessed health and disability statistics highlighted that there is a strong link between age and health, where poorer health outcomes are more prevalent for older people. This is still the case when examining age differences among Gypsy/Travellers.

However, Gypsy/Travellers 35 and over were also more likely to report having bad or very bad health than the rest of Scotland of the same age category (Table 14 and Table 15). Young Gypsy/Travellers were also less likely to report very good or good health in comparison to young people in the rest of Scotland (80.3% compared to 92.7% for those aged 0 to 34, Table 14 and Table 15).

Table 14: Percentage of Gypsy/Travellers, by age and health

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

Table 15: Percentage of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Traveller), by age and health

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

Mental Health

Scotland’s Census 2022 asks about conditions that have lasted or are expected to last at least 12 months with multiple response options: one of which was ‘Mental health condition (a condition that affects your emotional, physical and mental wellbeing)’.

In 2022, a higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers reported having a mental health condition than the rest of Scotland (26.2% and 11.3%, Figure 13).

Figure 13: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by mental health condition

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

As shown in Figure 14 below, a higher proportion of Gypsy/Traveller women reported having a mental health condition in 2022 than Gypsy/Traveller men but both were far more likely to report this compared to the rest of Scotland.

Figure 14: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by mental health condition and sex of those who reported having a mental health condition

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

As shown in Figure 15, a higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers over the age of 35 reported having a mental health condition when compared to Gypsy/Travellers 34 and under (32.1% and 20.4% respectively).

A higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers aged 0 to 34 reported a mental health condition when compared to the rest of Scotland in the same age group (20.4% and 10.7%). This difference was much bigger when comparing Gypsy/Travellers aged over 35 to the rest of Scotland who were aged 35 and over (32.1% and 11.7% respectively, Figure 15).

Figure 15: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by age of those who reported having a mental health condition

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022