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Publication - Statistics

Non-binary people in Scotland: an analysis of Scotland’s Census 2022

Published
14 July 2025
Directorate
Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice Directorate
Topic
Equality and rights

This report uses the new availability of Scotland's Census 2022 data to analyse the characteristics and outcomes associated with non-binary people, to fill evidence gaps and create a better understanding of Scotland’s diverse population.

Supporting documents

Student Status and Qualifications

The Census defined a student as a person who is in full-time education either at school or in higher or further education. While younger people are generally more likely to be full-time students, there was a higher proportion of young non-binary people who were full-time students when comparing to young people in the rest of Scotland aged 16 to 34 (excluding non-binary people) (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Comparing the proportion of full-time students for non-binary people and the rest of Scotland aged 16 and above, by age groups

Note: Where an asterisk (*) has been placed in the figure, the sample size for the statistic is below 100. Caution is advised for interpreting smaller results, because it would only take a small amount of variation in the data to see a large apparent effect on the analysis of the data.

For those aged 16 to 34, 47.4% of non-binary people were full-time students and 27.9% of the rest of Scotland in this age group were full-time students. For those aged 35 and over, 4.5% were of non-binary people were full-time students and only 0.9% of the rest of Scotland in the same age group were full-time students. A data table alternative of this chart can be found in Annex A.Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

The highest level of qualification which was most commonly held by non-binary people was a degree level qualification or above (39.0%). This is comparable to 32.5% of the rest of Scotland aged 16 and above, for whom this is the highest level of qualification. Degree level qualification or above includes Degree, Postgraduate Qualifications, Masters, PhD, SVQ Level 5 or equivalent; Professional Qualifications (for example, teaching, nursing, accountancy), and Other degree level Higher Education qualifications (including foreign qualifications).

Non-binary people, compared to the rest of Scotland aged 16 and above, were less likely to hold no qualification (4.5% compared to 16.7%) (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Highest qualifications held by non-binary people and rest of Scotland aged 16 and above

The chart depicts proportions for the following qualifications: degree level qualifications or above, upper school qualifications, further education and sub-degree higher education qualifications, lower school qualifications, no qualifications, and apprenticeship qualifications. A data table alternative of this chart can be found in Annex A.Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

 
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