Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census

The report explores the characteristics of each of the religion groups in Scotland using information collected from the 2001 Census in Scotland.


ANALYSIS OF RELIGION IN THE 2001 CENSUS: Summary Report

Religion of opposite sex co-habiting couples

Table 1.9: Religion of opposite sex co-habiting couples by current religion - All opposite sex co-habiting couples in households

Column Percentages

At least one partner is…

Church of Scotland

Roman Catholic

Other Christian

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Another Religion

No Religion

Not Answered

Religion of other partner:

Church of Scotland

42.6

35.2

33.3

13.8

25.8

31.6

13.3

20.0

11.6

20.6

17.8

Roman Catholic

19.6

20.4

14.4

7.2

11.3

15.4

12.9

9.6

8.9

14.7

11.0

Other Christian

7.2

5.6

15.4

6.1

6.2

7.3

6.0

10.4

7.8

5.3

4.2

Buddhist

0.1

0.1

0.2

13.8

1.0

1.3

0.8

0.0

0.6

0.2

0.2

Hindu

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

12.4

0.0

0.6

2.6

0.1

0.0

0.1

Jewish

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.7

0.0

8.1

0.0

0.9

0.2

0.1

0.1

Muslim

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.9

3.1

0.0

28.8

4.3

0.1

0.2

0.3

Sikh

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

3.1

0.4

1.0

19.1

0.1

0.0

0.1

Another Religion

0.5

0.6

1.4

3.4

2.1

2.6

0.8

3.5

25.4

1.2

1.4

No Religion

27.1

34.8

32.0

48.4

27.8

30.3

29.2

21.7

40.0

54.8

25.7

Not Answered

2.7

3.0

2.9

5.4

7.2

3.0

6.7

7.8

5.2

3.0

39.1

Base

68,751

38,207

14,906

442

97

234

504

115

2,688

90,480

10,391

Table 1.9 shows the same information for opposite sex co-habiting couples. One of the most striking differences (although perhaps not surprising) is that there is a much higher proportion of each faith group where at least one of the partners does not have any current faith. For example, 27% of co-habiting couples where at least one partner is Church of Scotland are Church of Scotland/No current faith partnerships. This compares to a rate of 13% for married couples.

Table 1.10 shows, for all opposite sex couples (both married and co-habiting), what proportion are co-habiting couples

Table 1.10: Proportion of co-habiting couples (opposite sex) as proportion of all opposite sex couples (both married and cohabiting), by current religion - All opposite sex couples (both married and co-habiting)

Percentages

At least one partner is…

Church of Scotland

10.4

Roman Catholic

15.4

Other Christian

11.9

Buddhist

18.9

Hindu

6.2

Jewish

11.5

Muslim

5.3

Sikh

7.0

Another Religion

34.7

No Religion

13.4

Not Answered

17.0

Base

1,159,122

The table shows that of the named main religions (i.e. excluding Another Religion and Not Answered), couples involving at least one Buddhist are most likely to be co-habiting (19% of all opposite sex couples are co-habiting). The next highest proportion is for couples where at least one of the couple is Roman Catholic: 15.4% of all opposite sex couples are co-habiting. This compares with 10.4% for Church of Scotland, which may partly reflect the somewhat older age profile for the latter. Perhaps not surprisingly the smallest proportion is found for couples where at least one is Muslim: only 5.3% of these couples are co-habiting.

Ascribed religion of children by religion of parents

The religion of children will generally have been ascribed by their parents (i.e. the person completing the Census form on their behalf). Table 1.11 presents data on the ascribed religion of children against the religion of their parents, where both parents report the same religion. It is worth noting that there may be cases where children consider themselves to have a different religion (or no religion) compared to their parents' religion. In those cases where a parent has completed the form for their child and differences in beliefs exist, the wrong religion may be coded.

Table 1.11: Ascribed current religion of child by current religion of parents (where both parents report the same religion) - All Children with Parents in a Couple

Column percentages

Religion of parents….

Church of Scotland

Roman Catholic

Other Christian

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Another Religion

No Religion

Not Answered

Religion of child:

Church of Scotland

87.0

1.4

4.5

1.7

0.8

0.7

0.1

0.2

3.1

3.1

1.9

Roman Catholic

0.7

91.4

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.7

0.2

0.0

1.7

1.0

1.3

Other Christian

0.4

0.2

78.9

1.3

0.0

0.2

0.2

0.3

2.4

0.5

0.5

Buddhist

0.0

0.0

0.0

65.2

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Hindu

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

91.9

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.0

Jewish

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

94.2

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.1

Muslim

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.9

1.2

0.2

94.9

1.0

0.5

0.1

0.3

Sikh

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.1

93.5

0.0

0.0

0.1

Another Religion

0.1

0.1

0.3

0.4

0.0

0.4

0.0

0.0

64.7

0.2

0.3

No Religion

9.1

3.7

11.6

23.5

1.4

1.2

0.5

1.5

21.8

91.1

3.8

Not Answered

2.7

3.1

4.0

6.3

3.9

2.3

3.8

3.3

5.5

4.0

91.6

Base

342,532

101,745

44,284

702

1,126

822

14,792

2,126

1,568

203,411

24,869

The religion of children is heavily influenced by the religion of their parents with over 90% of children with Roman Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh parents being ascribed the same religion. The lowest proportion of children being ascribed the same religion as their parents is where both parents are Buddhists or have Another Religion; 65.2% of children with Buddhist parents and 64.7% of children with parents from Another Religion are ascribed this same religion. The remaining majority are described as having no religion.

Family Structure and Number of Dependent Children

The Census defines a family according to the following definition:

'A family comprises a group of people consisting of a married or co-habiting couple with or without child(ren), or a lone parent with child(ren).'

Over two-thirds (72%) of families headed by a Muslim have at least one dependent 3 child. This compares to 36% of families from the Church of Scotland and 37% of Jewish families having dependent children. This will undoubtedly be related to the relative age structure of the different groups. Chart 1.2 showed that over a quarter of people who list their current religion as Church of Scotland or Jewish are over pensionable age. Thus, it is not surprising that both these groups are much less likely to have dependent children.

Chart 1.9: Families with dependent children as a percentage of all families, by current religion - All Families

Percentages

bar chart

Table 1.12 also shows that Muslim families are most likely to contain large numbers of children; 34% contain three or more dependent children. Similarly, over a quarter (27%) of families headed by a Sikh have three or more dependent children. Those least likely to have three or more children are Hindus with only 11% of such families having this number of dependent children.

Table 1.12: Number of dependent children as a percentage of all families with dependent children, by current religion - All Families with dependent children

Row percentages

Religion of family reference person 4

One dependent child

Two dependent children

Three or more dependent children

Base

Church of Scotland

46

41

14

226,969

Roman Catholic

48

37

15

107,579

Other Christian

43

39

18

38,229

Buddhist

51

35

14

916

Hindu

52

38

11

745

Jewish

42

43

15

636

Muslim

34

32

34

7,174

Sikh

33

40

27

1,012

Another Religion

48

38

14

2,896

No religion

46

39

14

205,686

Not Answered

47

37

16

24,652

All Religion Groups

46

39

15

616,494

Lone Parent Families

Chart 1.10: Lone parent families with dependent children as a percentage of all families with dependent children, by current religion - All Families with dependent children

Percentages

bar chart

Roman Catholic families with dependent children are the most likely to be lone parent families (34%). This is followed by Buddhist families (30%) and families headed by someone with no religious affiliation (30%).

Hindu families with dependent children are least likely to be lone parent families, at 12%. Lone parent families are also less common among the Sikh, Muslim and Jewish communities.

Multiple Family Households

The 2001 Census question asks for the relationship of each person in the household to every other member (except in large households). This enables the identification of concealed families (second or subsequent families in a household), families containing step-children and the relationship between families.

Each individual within a household is allocated to a single family or is classified as an 'ungrouped individual'. One or more of these families and/or one or more individual(s) makes up a household.'

Table 1.13 shows the number of families in each household by the religion of the household reference person (HRP).

The household reference person (HRP) replaces the Census term 'Head of Household'. For a person living alone, that person is clearly the HRP. If the household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP). If there is more than one family in the household, the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria as for choosing the FRP (economic activity, then age, then order on the form). If there is no family, then the HRP is chosen from the individuals using the same criteria.

Table 1.13 shows that Buddhists and Jews are most likely to live in single person households, 19.4% and 19.3% respectively for each group.

People from the Church of Scotland (80.9%) and Roman Catholics (81.1%) are most likely to live in households consisting of 1 family only. Only 1% of people from the Church of Scotland and 1.4% of Roman Catholics live in households which consist of 2 or more families.

In contrast, 11.8% of Sikhs and 10.0% of Muslims live in households comprising 2 families. A further 3.7% of Sikhs and 1.7% of Muslims live in households which are made up of 3 or more families.

Table 1.13: Household Structure by current religion of Household Reference Person (HRP) - All People in Households

Column percentages

Church of Scotland

Roman Catholic

Other Christian

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Another Religion

No Religion

Not Answered

All People in Households

0 - Couples/Lone Parent families

Number of Ungrouped Individuals

18.1

17.5

21.0

28.9

20.2

25.6

8.5

7.8

36.6

15.8

17.4

17.5

0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

1

16.1

14.5

15.6

19.4

8.1

19.3

5.0

4.6

18.1

12.2

13.6

14.5

2

1.4

1.8

2.3

4.5

4.3

2.7

1.8

1.7

6.5

1.9

2.4

1.7

3

0.4

0.6

1.3

2.1

3.8

1.6

0.8

0.8

5.5

0.9

0.7

0.7

4+

0.2

0.6

1.7

3.0

4.0

2.0

0.9

0.7

6.5

0.9

0.6

0.6

1 - Couple/Lone Parent family

Number of Ungrouped Individuals

80.9

81.1

78.0

69.4

76.4

74.2

79.8

76.7

62.5

83.1

81.3

81.2

0

77.6

76.7

74.0

63.8

70.0

70.9

68.8

64.0

57.3

79.0

75.7

77.3

1

3.0

3.9

3.4

4.7

5.4

2.8

8.8

11.0

3.8

3.6

4.6

3.5

2

0.2

0.4

0.3

0.7

0.7

0.2

1.7

1.5

0.9

0.4

0.6

0.3

3

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.4

0.2

0.3

0.1

0.2

0.1

4+

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

2 - Couples/Lone Parent families

Number of Ungrouped Individuals

1.0

1.4

1.0

1.6

3.1

0.3

10.0

11.8

0.9

1.1

1.3

1.2

0

1.0

1.3

0.9

1.3

3.0

0.2

7.6

8.5

0.7

1.0

1.1

1.1

1

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.3

0.1

0.0

1.7

2.1

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.1

2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.5

1.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

4+

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

3 or more Couples/Lone Parent families

Number of Ungrouped Individuals

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.0

1.7

3.7

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.0

1.3

2.3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.9

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

4+

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Base

2,112,468

792,021

333,664

6,385

5,306

6,191

42,112

6,537

25,854

1,379,353

266,114

4,976,005

Urban and Rural Scotland

The Scottish Executive Urban Rural Classification is defined as follows:

Large Urban Areas

Settlements of over 125,000 people.

Other Urban Areas

Settlements of 10,000 to 125,000 people.

Accessible Small Towns

Settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.

Remote Small Towns

Settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more.

Accessible Rural

Settlements of less than 3,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.

Remote Rural

Settlements of less than 3,000 people and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more.

The classification is based on the size of settlements and also how close the settlements are to large settlements in terms of 'drivetimes'.

Table 1.14: Urban and Rural Scotland by current religion of All People in Households

Row percentages

Large Urban Areas

Other Urban Areas

Accessible Small Towns

Remote Small Towns

Accessible Rural

Remote Rural

Base

Church of Scotland

33

30

12

3

15

6

2,112,468

Roman Catholic

54

28

8

1

7

2

792,021

Other Christian

32

27

11

3

16

11

333,664

Buddhist

52

21

6

2

12

7

6,385

Hindu

74

16

4

1

4

1

5,306

Jewish

81

8

3

1

5

2

6,191

Muslim

79

13

3

1

3

0

42,112

Sikh

77

14

4

0

4

1

6,537

Another Religion

51

22

7

2

11

7

25,854

No religion

39

30

11

3

13

5

1,379,353

Not Answered

44

29

9

2

11

5

266,114

All Religion Groups

39

29

10

3

13

6

4,976,005

There are large differences between the proportions of people from different religion groups across the different areas of Scotland. There are very high proportions of people from the Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths living in large urban areas (this corresponds with the high density of certain minority ethnic groups within these areas). More than 50% of the Roman Catholic population in Scotland live in large urban areas compared with around one third of the population who list their current faith as Church of Scotland.

There is a large proportion of people who describe their current faith as 'Other Christian' who live in rural areas (27% of the total compared with only 19% of the overall Scottish population). This is perhaps not surprising since this will encompass areas where certain Christian traditions (Free Church of Scotland and the Free Presbeteryian Church of Scotland) are still prevalent.

The proportions of people by urban/rural classification responding that they have no current religion are almost identical to the overall population profile for Scotland.

Household Access to Cars

Table 1.15: Number of cars or van available for use by current religion of All People in Households

Row percentages

No car or van

1 car or van

2 cars or vans

3 or more cars or vans

Base

Church of Scotland

23

44

26

6

2,112,468

Roman Catholic

32

42

22

4

792,021

Other Christian

21

45

28

7

333,664

Buddhist

28

45

22

5

6,385

Hindu

29

38

26

7

5,306

Jewish

20

34

36

9

6,191

Muslim

22

43

26

10

42,112

Sikh

16

36

33

15

6,537

Another Religion

31

41

22

6

25,854

No religion

25

44

26

5

1,379,353

Not Answered

35

41

20

4

266,114

All Religion Groups

26

44

25

6

4,976,005

Table 1.15 shows the proportion of people within each religion group who live in households with a certain number of cars or vans. Disregarding those who did not answer the question on religion, the group with the largest proportion of people living in a household with no car is the Roman Catholic group. Buddhists and Hindu people are also more likely than the overall average to live in households with no access to cars or vans. However, previous work has shown a very strong link between location and access to cars. The Scottish Executive publication Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 5 showed that 46% of households in large urban areas do not have access to a car or van compared to only 21% in remote rural Scotland.

The different age profiles of the religion groups may also be a factor in whether or not they have access to a car, as fewer older people will have a driving licence.

Given the different settlement patterns of different religion groups, we need to take this into account when considering these data. Table 1.16 shows the proportion of households within each of the area types that has no access to a car or a van.

Table 1.16: Proportion of each current religion group within each area type (urban rural classification) with access to no cars or vans - All People in Households with access to no cars/vans

Percentages

Large Urban Areas

Other Urban Areas

Accessible Small Towns

Remote Small Towns

Accessible Rural

Remote Rural

Base

Church of Scotland

33

23

19

25

12

13

494,014

Roman Catholic

39

27

22

31

14

15

252,626

Other Christian

31

22

16

23

8

11

68,924

Buddhist

40

20

13

25

10

12

1,799

Hindu

33

18

9

40

9

21

1,532

Jewish

20

31

13

57

5

23

1,236

Muslim

25

11

9

16

5

10

9,084

Sikh

17

16

16

21

6

24

1,047

Another Religion

41

27

18

25

8

12

7,888

No religion

34

24

19

27

10

10

344,197

Not Answered

44

33

16

32

16

15

92,206

All Religion Groups

35

25

20

26

11

12

1,274,553

Table 1.16 shows that even when account is taken of the different locations in which different people live, there are still large differences between households from different religion groups in terms of the proportion of households who do not have access to a car or van. Whilst overall 35% of people living in households in large urban areas do not have access to a car or van, that proportion is considerably smaller for Sikhs, Jewish and Muslim people (17%, 20% and 25% respectively). Roman Catholic and Buddhists however have a higher than overall proportion.

Note: Table 1.16 should be treated with some caution since some of the numbers involved are very small. For example, the table suggests that 57% of Jewish people living in remote small towns live in households which do not have access to a car or van. Whilst this may be true, there are only a total of 37 Jewish people living in remote small towns (1% of the total Jewish population) of which 21 of them live in households with no access to cars or vans.

Local Authority Analysis

Information on the religious make-up of each local authority area is provided in Table 1.17

Nearly half (49%) of people from Jewish backgrounds live in East Renfrewshire. The remaining majority of Jewish people live in the large urban areas of Glasgow (17%) and Edinburgh (12%).

The Muslim and Sikh population are most heavily concentrated in Glasgow City with 42% and 36% of each religion group living within the city.

Buddhists and Hindus are most likely to live in the large cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. 17% of Buddhists live in Glasgow and another 17% live in Edinburgh. Similarly, 22% of Hindus live in Glasgow and a further 22% live in Edinburgh.

People from the Church of Scotland were spread across Scotland.

Just over one in five Roman Catholics (21%) live in Glasgow. A further 14% of Roman Catholics live in North Lanarkshire. In contrast, 11% of all people in Scotland live in Glasgow and 6% live in North Lanarkshire.

Table 1.17: Proportion of each religion group living in each local authority by current religion - All People

Column percentages

Church of Scotland

Roman Catholic

Other Christian

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Another Religion

No Religion

Not Answered

All People

Aberdeen City

4

1

5

8

9

2

4

2

7

6

4

4

Aberdeenshire

5

1

6

3

1

1

1

1

3

5

4

4

Angus

3

1

2

1

1

0

0

0

2

2

2

2

Argyll & Bute

2

1

3

2

1

1

0

0

2

2

2

2

Clackmannanshire

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

Dumfries & Galloway

4

1

4

5

1

1

0

1

2

3

2

3

Dundee City

2

4

3

4

7

1

7

3

4

3

3

3

East Ayrshire

3

2

2

1

0

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

East Dunbartonshire

2

3

2

1

10

1

2

13

1

2

2

2

East Lothian

2

1

2

1

0

1

0

0

2

2

2

2

East Renfrewshire

2

2

1

2

4

49

5

6

1

1

2

2

Edinburgh, City of

7

6

11

17

22

12

16

12

21

12

8

9

Eilean Siar

1

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

Falkirk

3

2

2

1

1

1

2

1

2

3

3

3

Fife

7

4

7

6

3

2

4

3

6

9

6

7

Glasgow City

8

21

7

17

22

17

42

36

14

9

16

11

Highland

5

2

7

4

1

1

1

1

4

4

4

4

Inverclyde

1

4

1

1

1

0

0

1

1

1

2

2

Midlothian

2

1

1

1

1

0

1

0

1

2

2

2

Moray

2

1

3

2

0

0

0

0

2

2

1

2

North Ayrshire

3

3

2

2

0

1

0

3

2

2

3

3

North Lanarkshire

6

14

4

3

3

1

5

3

3

4

7

6

Orkney Islands

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Perth & Kinross

3

1

3

2

1

1

1

0

3

3

2

3

Renfrewshire

3

5

2

2

2

1

1

4

2

3

4

3

Scottish Borders

3

1

3

2

0

1

0

0

2

2

2

2

Shetland Islands

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

South Ayrshire

3

1

2

1

1

1

0

1

2

2

2

2

South Lanarkshire

6

8

4

3

4

3

3

3

3

5

7

6

Stirling

2

1

2

2

1

1

1

1

3

2

2

2

West Dunbartonshire

2

4

1

1

0

0

1

1

1

1

2

2

West Lothian

3

3

2

2

2

1

2

1

2

4

3

3

Base

2,146,251

803,732

344,562

6,830

5,564

6,448

42,557

6,572

26,974

1,394,460

278,061

5,062,011

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