Statistics News - Insights into equality outcomes

Detailed local area and equality group analysis on health and attitudes towards justice was released today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.

The Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2017 tells us about indicators by age and gender, sexual orientation, country of birth, ethnic and religious groups, limiting long-term condition and area deprivation.

The findings show a link between deprivation and poorer health outcomes, with adults living in the most deprived 20% of areas reporting;

• lower self-assessed general health
• higher prevalence of limiting long-term conditions
• lower mental wellbeing
• higher rates of smoking

Since 2012, adults living in the 20% most deprived areas were increasingly likely to be confident in the ability of the police, though are still less confident than those in the least deprived areas.

People identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other sexual orientation reported;

• a higher prevalence of limiting long-term conditions
• higher rates of smoking
• lower mental wellbeing

Between 2012 and 2017, smoking rates decreased across all age groups under 75, men, women and all levels of area deprivation.

In general, confidence in the ability of the police fell with age. Higher levels of confidence were reported among 16-24 year olds with the lowest levels in the 65-74 age group.

Women were more likely than men to report having a limiting long-term condition, not smoking and providing unpaid care.

Background

Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2017

As the sixth in the series of SSCQ annual publications, this report contains information about the change in many of the indicators over the period 2012-2017 at national level, among equalities groups and subnational analysis.

Full background data covering all core questions including breakdown by sub-Scotland geographies is provided in supplementary tables.

Data in SSCQ is collated from the three major population surveys run by the Scottish Government. These surveys – Scottish Crime & Justice, Health and Household Surveys (SCJS, SHeS and SHS) – are randomly sampled, face-to-face surveys meeting the highest standards of impartiality and statistical rigour.

This information has been useful for public bodies for resource planning, academic researchers in minority health and epidemiology and among advocacy groups.

Official statistics are produced in accordance with professional standards – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland is available online.