Scottish household survey 2018: annual report

2 The Composition and Characteristics of Households in Scotland

Main Findings

Twenty eight per cent of the population were under 25 years old and 25 per cent were over 60 years old in 2018.

There were more women than men in Scotland and the gender of one tenth of one per cent (0.1 per cent) of household members was reported as ‘in another way’.

Three in 10 adults in Scotland reported having a long-term health condition.

The population in Scotland was largely white, with over three-quarters of adults (77 per cent) reporting having White Scottish ethnicity in 2018. This has dropped since 2013 where 80 per cent of adults identified as White Scottish.

Nearly a quarter of all adults (16+) in Scotland were permanently retired from work. Almost half of adults aged 16-64 were in full-time employment.

Religious belonging in Scotland has been declining and this trend continued into 2018; a half of adults reported that they didn’t belong to any religion. In 2018 there was an increase in the proportion of adults reporting belonging to ‘Other Christian’ compared to previous years.

The proportion of adults who had never been married or in a civil partnership has increased since 2013 to 37 per cent in 2018.

Over a third of people in Scotland lived alone.

In 2018, over half of households which contain children were small families with two adults of any age and one or two children.

Six out of 10 households were in a home they owned outright or were buying.

Scotland’s population was largely urban-based, with over eight out of 10 households located in urban areas in 2018.

In 2018, over a half of households in Scotland earnt less than £25,000 a year. Around one in four households earnt more than £40,000 a year.

2.1 Introduction and Context

This chapter describes the types of homes in Scotland and who lives in them.

Collecting information on age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation provides an important contribution to the overall equality evidence base. This is used by policy makers to target services and tackle discrimination and disadvantage. The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) collects information about all household members, including children.

Please note that all tables have a descriptive and numerical base showing the population or population sub-group examined in it. While all results have been calculated using unrounded weighted data, the bases shown provide the unweighted counts. These have been rounded to the nearest 10 to comply with statistical disclosure control principles and the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Where base numbers are less than five, the bases shown have been rounded down to zero. It is therefore not possible to calculate how many respondents gave a certain answer based on the results and bases presented in the report. See Annex 1: Using the Information in this Report for more information on reporting conventions.

The age and number of eligible people in the household are combined to give a ‘household type’. See Annex 2: Glossary for a full definition of eligibility. The SHS uses eight household types defined as follows:

• A single adult household – contains one adult aged 16-64 and no children.
• A single parent household – contains one adult of any age and one or more children.
• A single older household - contains one adult of pensionable age and no children. Pensionable age is 65 for both women and men.
• A small family household – contains two adults of any age and one or two children.
• An older smaller household – contains one adult aged 16-64 and one of pensionable age and no children, or two adults of pensionable age and no children.
• A large adult household – contains three or more adults and no children.
• A small adult household – contains two adults aged 16-64 and no children.
• A large family household – contains two adults of any age and three or more children, or three or more adults of any age and one or more children.

2.2 All Household Members

The household respondent^[27] gives the characteristics of all household members, including children, and answers questions on characteristics of the household. Due to the method of collecting this data, the household member characteristics of age will be accurately reported. However, whether a member of the household has a long standing illness or disability is thought to be under reported as the respondent may not know of individuals’ conditions. Similarly, the gender of a member of the household may be misreported as the respondent may not know how an individual identifies.

The age of all household members is presented in Table 2.1. Similar to previous years, 28 per cent of household members were under 25 years old and 25 per cent were 60 or over in 2018.

Table 2.1: Age of all household members by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, All household members

Age	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
0-15	17	17	17	17	17	17	17
16-24	12	12	12	11	11	11	11
25-34	13	13	13	13	13	13	14
35-44	13	13	13	12	12	12	12
45-59	21	22	22	22	21	22	22
60-74	16	16	16	17	17	17	17
75+	7	7	7	8	8	8	8
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	23,240	23,530	23,410	22,610	22,760	23,080	22,610

The gender of all household members is presented in Table 2.2. This shows that more household members were reported as women than men in Scotland. In 2018, the gender of one tenth of one per cent (0.1 per cent) of household members was reported as 'in another way'.

Table 2.2: Gender of all household members by year^[28]
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, All household members

Gender	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Men	48.5	48.5	48.5	48.6	48.6	48.6	48.6
Women	51.5	51.5	51.5	51.4	51.4	51.4	51.2
Identified in another way	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.1
Refused	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.2
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	23,240	23,530	23,410	22,610	22,760	23,080	22,610

Table 2.3 shows that just under a quarter (23 per cent) of all household members were reported as having a long-term physical or mental health condition^[29] in 2018, similar to previous years.

Table 2.3: All household members with a long-term physical or mental health condition by year
Column percentages, 2014-2018 data, All household members

Long-term physical or mental health condition	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Yes	22	23	22	22	23
No	78	77	78	78	77
Total	100	100	100	100	100
Base	23,290	22,520	22,670	23,000	22,500

2.3 Adults in Private Households

Figure 2.1 to Table 2.10 present equality characteristics of adults, based on those selected to take part in the random adult interview. These tables provide estimates for age, gender, whether adults have a long term illness or disability, ethnicity, current economic situation of all adults and 16-64 aged adults, sexual orientation, religion and marital status of adults in Scotland.

Figure 2.1 shows the age of adults in households since 1999. Similar to previous years, 30 per cent of adults were under 35 years old and 30 per cent were 60 or over in 2018.

Figure 2.1: Age of adults by year
1999 - 2018, Adults dataset (minimum base: 9,410)

The gender of adults in Scotland across time is presented in Figure 2.2. This shows that there were more women than men in Scotland. In 2018, less than a tenth of one per cent of adults responded as ‘identified in another way’.

Figure 2.2: Gender^[30] of adults by year
1999 - 2018, Adults dataset (minimum base: 9,410)

2.2.1 Long-term physical or mental health condition

The proportion of adults with a long-term physical or mental health condition varied over time, as shown in Table 2.4 and Figure 2.3. In 2018, three in 10 adults (30 per cent) reported a long-term physical or mental health condition, a similar proportion as in 2014-2017 (28 per cent). A larger proportion of respondents in 2018 reported a long-term physical or mental health condition compared to 2012 and 2013 (27 per cent and 28 per cent respectively).

Table 2.4: Adults with a long-term physical or mental health condition by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Adults dataset

Long-term physical or mental health condition	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Yes	27	28	30	29	30	28	30
No	73	72	70	71	70	72	70
Base	3,200	9,860	9,750	9,370	9,610	9,760	9,660

Figure 2.3: Adults with a long-term physical or mental health condition by year
2012–2018, Adults dataset (minimum base: 3,200)

2.3.2 Ethnicity

Table 2.5 shows a breakdown of the Scottish population by ethnicity. The population in Scotland was largely white, with over three-quarters of adults (77 per cent) identifying themselves as White Scottish in 2018. This has dropped compared to 2013 where 80 per cent of adults identified themselves as White Scottish.

Table 2.5: Ethnicity of adults by year
Column percentages, 2013 – 2018 data, Adults dataset

Ethnicity	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
White	96.4	96.7	96.3	96.0	95.6	96.0
Scottish	79.7	78.2	78.9	78.9	78.3	77.3
Other British	12.1	13.2	12.1	11.9	11.6	11.9
Irish	1.1	0.8	0.7	1.0	0.9	1.1
Gypsy / Traveller	-	0.0	0.0	0.0	-	0.0
Polish	1.2	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.6
Other white ethnic group	2.3	2.8	2.8	2.4	2.9	4.2
Any mixed or multiple ethnic groups	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.3
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British	2.2	2.1	2.4	2.3	2.6	2.6
Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8
Indian, Indian Scottish or Indian British	0.7	0.4	0.9	0.5	0.8	0.8
Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Chinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.4
Other Asian ethnic group	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.3
African	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
African, African Scottish or African British	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3
Other African ethnic group	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Caribbean or Black	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.1
Black, Black Scottish or Black British	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other Caribbean or Black ethnic group	-	-	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other Ethnic Group	0.7	0.4	0.6	0.7	0.9	0.4
Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2
Any other ethnic group	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.8	0.2
Don't know	-	0.0	0.0	0.0	-	0.1
Refused	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	9,920	9,800	9,410	9,640	9,810	9,700

2.3.3 Economic situation

In Table 2.6, examining the economic situation of all adults (16+) in 2018 as well as a subset of adults aged 16-64 shows that almost a quarter of all adults and four per cent of 16-64 aged adults were permanently retired from work. Only five per cent of adults aged 16-64 were unemployed and seeking work.

Table 2.6: Economic situation of all adults and adults aged 16-64
Column percentages, 2018, Adults dataset

Economic status	All adults	Adults aged 16-64
Self employed	6.3	7.6
Employed full time	38.3	48.9
Employed part time	10.4	12.6
Looking after the home or family	4.4	5.6
Permanently retired from work	24.1	4.3
Unemployed and seeking work	3.6	4.6
At school	1.6	2.1
In further / higher education	5.4	7.0
Gov't work or training scheme	0.3	0.3
Permanently sick or disabled	4.6	5.7
Unable to work because of short-term illness or injury	0.7	0.9
Other	0.3	0.3
Refused	0.0	0.0
Total	100	100
Base	9,700	6,600

Examining the economic situation of adults (16+) over time, in Figure 2.4, shows that the proportion of those who were in full-time employment or were self-employed has increased since 1999. Similarly, the proportion of those who were permanently retired from work has increased since 1999. The proportion of those looking after the home or family has decreased.

Figure 2.4: Economic situation of adults (16+) by year – selected groups
1999 – 2018, Adults dataset (minimum base: 9,410)

2.3.4 Sexual orientation

Around two per cent of all adults self-identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual in 2018. This is an increase from around one per cent of adults in 2011, as shown in Table 2.7. It should be noted that estimates on self-identified sexual orientation from the SHS are likely to under-represent the lesbian, gay and bisexual population. Potential reasons for this are discussed in Annex 2: Glossary.

Table 2.7: Sexual orientation of adults by year
Column percentages, 2011-2018 data, Adults dataset

Sexual orientation	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Heterosexual/Straight	98.4	98.0	98.6	98.4	98.1	97.9	97.9	97.6
Gay/Lesbian	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.8	1.1	1.2	1.2
Bisexual	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.6
Other	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Refused	0.4	0.8	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.4	0.5	0.4
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	12,890	9,890	9,920	9,800	9,410	9,640	9,810	9,700

2.3.5 Religion

Since 2009, when the harmonised question on religious belonging was introduced to the SHS, there has been an increase in the proportion of adults reporting not belonging to a religion, from 40 per cent in 2009 to just over a half of adults (51 per cent) in 2018 (Figure 2.5). There has also been a corresponding decrease in the proportion reporting belonging to ‘Church of Scotland’, from 34 per cent to 22 per cent. In 2018 there was an increase in the proportion of adults reporting belonging to ‘Other Christian’. In 2018 this was 10 per cent, around two per cent higher than in previous years (seven to eight per cent since 2009).

Figure 2.5: Religious belonging of adults by year
2009 - 2018 data, Adults dataset (minimum base: 9,410)

2.3.6 Marital status

The proportion of adults who have never been married or in a civil partnership has increased from 34 per cent in 2013 to 37 per cent in 2018 (Table 2.8). There has been a corresponding decrease in the proportion of adults who are widowed, from eight per cent to six per cent.

Table 2.8: Marital status of adults by year
Column percentages, 2013-2018 data, Adults dataset

Marital status	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Never married and never registered a same-sex civil partnership	34	35	35	36	36	37
Married	48	47	47	47	47	47
In a registered same-sex civil partnership	0	0	0	0	0	0
Separated, but still legally married	2	2	2	2	2	2
Separated, but still legally in a same-sex civil partnership	1	0	1	0	0	0
Divorced	7	8	8	8	7	8
Formerly in a same-sex civil partnership which is now legally dissolved	0	0	0	0	0	0
Widowed	8	7	7	7	7	6
Surviving partner from a same-sex civil partnership	0	0	0	0	0	0
Refused	0	-	-	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	9,920	9,800	9,410	9,640	9,810	9,700

As shown in Table 2.9, in 2018 the majority of younger adults (aged 16-34) had never been married or in a civil partnership whereas the majority of adults aged 35 and over were married or in a civil partnership.

Table 2.9: Current marital status of adults by age
Column percentages, 2018, Adults dataset

Marital status	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60-74	75+	All
Single, never been married/in civil partnership	94	67	35	23	10	6	37
Married/Civil partnership	5	31	56	58	65	48	47
Divorced/Separated	1	2	8	17	15	5	10
Widowed/Bereaved civil partner	-	0	0	2	10	40	6
Refused	0	-	-	-	-	-	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	680	1,300	1,370	2,390	2,540	1,430	9,700

Exploring how marital status is spread across age groups reveals that single adults tended to be in the younger age groups (Table 2.10). The proportion of those who were married/in civil partnership or divorced/separated increased with age, with the majority of these respondents aged 45-59. Widowed adults were in the older age groups with over nine in 10 of the widowed respondents being over the age of 60.

Table 2.10: Age of adults by marital status
Row percentages, 2018, Adults dataset

Marital status	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60-74	75+	Total	Base
Single, never been married/in civil partnership	31	32	14	16	5	2	100	3,240
Married/Civil partnership	1	12	18	32	28	10	100	3,960
Divorced/Separated	1	4	13	46	32	5	100	1,330
Widowed/Bereaved civil partner	-	0	1	7	32	60	100	1,180
All	12	18	15	26	20	10	100	9,700

2.4 Household Characteristics

The Scottish Household Survey provides estimates of geographical characteristics (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and urban/rural classification), property type, household type, tenure and net household income^[31] for households in Scotland.

Household type is derived from the details collected from the household respondent about all household members, using a combination of age and number of people in the household. Full definitions of each household type are included in Annex 2: Glossary. Combining the data in this way provides an indicator of the life stage and family circumstance of households.

2.3.1 Household type

In 2018, over a third of people in Scotland lived alone (36 per cent) (Table 2.11). Only five per cent of households in Scotland were two adult families with three or more children, or three or more adult families with one or more children. Less than one in four households in Scotland contained children (22 per cent). Since 2012, the proportion of single and small adult households in Scotland has increased whereas the proportion of single older and older smaller households has dropped.

Table 2.11: Household type of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Household Type	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Single adult	19	18	19	20	21	20	22
Small adult	18	17	17	20	20	19	20
Single parent	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Small family	12	13	12	12	12	13	12
Large family	6	5	6	5	5	5	5
Large adult	10	10	10	9	9	10	9
Older smaller	15	15	15	13	13	13	14
Single older	15	16	16	15	14	14	14
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

Of the households which contained children, over half were small families with two adults of any age and one or two children (Table 2.12). Single parents accounted for just over one in five households with children (22 per cent in 2018).

Table 2.12: Households with children by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Household Type	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Single parent	23	22	22	22	24	21	22
Small family	52	55	54	54	55	56	55
Large family	24	23	25	24	22	23	23
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	2,460	2,560	2,510	2,440	2,420	2,390	2,260

2.4.2 House type and tenure

Table 2.13 shows that around two thirds of households in Scotland were a house or a bungalow with the remaining third a flat.

Table 2.13: Property type of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Property Type	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
A house or bungalow	65.1	64.4	64.3	64.8	64.3	65.6	66.3
A flat, maisonette or apartment (including four-in-a-block or conversion)	34.4	35.3	35.4	34.9	35.3	33.9	33.4
A room or rooms	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0
A caravan, mobile home or a houseboat	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1
Other	0.5	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

Owner-occupier was the most common type of tenure with over six out of 10 households living in a home they owned outright or were buying (Table 2.14). A fifth of households (23 per cent in 2018) were in the social rented sector. Fourteen per cent of households were rented from a private landlord. More information on this is contained in Chapter 3 on housing.

Table 2.14: Tenure of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Tenure	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Owner occupied	63	61	60	61	61	62	62
Social rented	23	23	24	23	23	22	23
Private rented	13	13	14	14	15	15	14
Other	2	2	2	1	1	1	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

2.4.3 Area type

Table 2.15 describes the split of households by deprivation quintiles as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).

Table 2.15: Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

SIMD quintiles	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
1 - Most Deprived	21	21	21	21	22	21	21
2	21	20	20	20	21	20	20
3	20	21	20	21	20	20	20
4	20	19	20	20	19	19	20
5 - Least Deprived	18	19	18	18	19	20	19
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

Table 2.16 shows that over eight in 10 households in Scotland were located in urban areas (including small towns) (83 per cent), with only 17 per cent in rural areas in 2018. The proportion of households in large urban areas has decreased over time whilst those in other urban areas has increased.

Table 2.16: Urban rural split of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Urban/Rural classification	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Large urban areas	40	40	36	36	36	35	35
Other urban areas	30	30	34	35	35	36	35
Accessible small towns	8	9	9	9	9	9	9
Remote small towns	4	4	4	3	4	4	4
Accessible rural	11	11	11	11	11	10	11
Remote rural	7	6	6	6	6	6	6
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

2.4.4 Income

In 2018, over a half of households in Scotland earnt less than £25,000 a year (53 per cent) and just under a quarter of households earnt more than £40,000 a year (24 per cent) (Table 2.17). The proportion of households that earnt more than £40,000 a year has increased since 2012 whereas the proportion that earnt between £6,001-£15,000 has decreased.

Table 2.17: Household income of households by year
Column percentages, 2012-2018 data, Households dataset

Total household income	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
£0 - £6,000	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
£6,001 - £10,000	11	10	10	9	9	8	7
£10,001 - £15,000	19	19	18	18	17	15	15
£15,001 - £20,000	16	16	16	16	15	15	15
£20,001 - £25,000	13	12	12	12	13	12	12
£25,001 - £30,000	10	10	10	9	10	10	10
£30,001 - £40,000	13	13	13	15	14	15	14
£40,001+	16	17	18	18	20	22	24
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	10,260	10,320	10,330	9,980	10,080	10,300	10,090