Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census

ANALYSIS OF RELIGION IN THE 2001 CENSUS: Summary Report

3. QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION

Highest Level of Qualification

The 2001 Census defines the highest level of qualification as follows:

Group 1	'O' Grade, Standard Grade, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, City and Guilds Craft, SVQ Level 1 or 2 or equivalent.
Group 2	Higher Grade, CSYS, ONC, OND, City and Guilds Advanced Craft, RSA Advanced Diploma, SVQ Level 3 or equivalent.
Group 3	HND, HNC, RSA Higher Diploma, SVQ Level 4 or 5 or equivalent.
Group 4	First Degree, Higher Degree, Professional qualification.

Note that these analyses are based on the qualifications of people resident on Census night ⁸, irrespective of country of study. In some cases, qualifications earned out with the UK might not be comparable with the groups listed above. It should also be noted that the qualifications question is only asked to those persons aged between 16 and 74 years.

For all people aged 16-74 years, Sikhs are most likely to have no qualifications or qualifications out with those listed in the Census (42%).

Hindus have by far the highest proportion of people with the degree level qualifications (58%). This is followed by Buddhists with 40% being educated to degree level or above.

The qualification levels of Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic groups are very similar.

Table 3.1: Highest level of qualification by current religion of All People aged 16-74 years

Row Percentages

	No qualifications or qualifications out with these groups	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Base
Church of Scotland	38	25	14	6	16	1,601,665
Roman Catholic	39	24	15	7	16	607,151
Other Christian	25	21	17	7	31	263,520
Buddhist	26	12	15	7	40	6,066
Hindu	14	10	13	5	58	4,589
Jewish	23	15	20	5	37	4,593
Muslim	39	18	14	8	22	28,979
Sikh	42	21	14	7	16	4,668
Another Religion	10	16	30	11	33	23,996
No religion	25	26	18	8	23	1,022,709
Not Answered	31	26	17	7	19	163,143
All Religion Groups	33	25	16	7	19	3,731,079

Tables' 3.2-3.5 show how highest level of qualification varies by age.

Table 3.2: Highest level of qualification by current religion of All People aged 16-29 years
Row percentages

	No qualifications or qualifications out with these groups	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Base
Church of Scotland	12	37	27	11	14	271,946
Roman Catholic	13	35	27	10	15	144,673
Other Christian	8	24	35	8	25	58,681
Buddhist	15	15	28	9	32	1,640
Hindu	7	9	25	5	53	1,867
Jewish	9	15	40	7	29	978
Muslim	22	23	24	11	19	11,740
Sikh	19	28	25	10	17	1,695
Another Religion	4	15	43	12	26	12,330
No religion	11	35	27	10	16	332,186
Not Answered	14	35	28	9	14	46,044
All Religion Groups	12	34	28	10	16	883,780

Of those aged 16-29 years, Muslims and Sikhs are most likely to have no qualifications, 22% and 19% respectively.

Over half (53%) of Hindus in this age group (16-29) have a degree. This compares to only 14% of people from the Church of Scotland and 15% of Roman Catholics having a degree.

Table 3.3: Highest level of qualification by current religion of All People aged 30-49 years

Row percentages

	No qualifications or qualifications out with these groups	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Base
Church of Scotland	26	30	17	8	20	588,518
Roman Catholic	32	27	14	8	20	253,458
Other Christian	16	24	15	8	37	99,132
Buddhist	26	11	11	8	44	3,036
Hindu	15	12	6	5	61	1,764
Jewish	10	15	19	7	48	1,520
Muslim	45	15	8	7	26	13,145
Sikh	48	20	9	6	17	2,048
Another Religion	10	17	18	12	43	8,771
No religion	23	26	15	9	27	464,815
Not Answered	24	27	16	9	23	64,220
All Religion Groups	25	28	15	8	24	1,500,427

Muslim and Sikhs continue to have the highest proportion of people with no qualifications in the 30-49 year old age group.

Again, Hindus are the most highly qualified with 61% educated to degree level or above. This is followed by Jews (48%), Buddhists (44%) and those persons with Another Religion (43%).

Tables 3.4 and 3.5 continue to show that Muslim and Sikhs have the highest proportion of people with no qualifications and Hindus are most likely to be educated to degree level or above.

Table 3.4: Highest level of qualification by current religion of All People aged 50 years-pensionable age ⁹
Row percentages

	No qualifications or qualifications out with these groups	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Base
Church of Scotland	52	18	9	4	16	393,552
Roman Catholic	59	15	8	4	14	116,624
Other Christian	36	18	10	6	31	59,890
Buddhist	32	10	7	6	45	1,068
Hindu	19	9	3	4	66	669
Jewish	30	15	12	3	40	1,200
Muslim	58	11	5	3	23	2,783
Sikh	65	11	6	3	16	582
Another Religion	26	14	12	6	43	2,086
No religion	42	15	10	5	27	155,838
Not Answered	46	17	10	5	21	29,465
All Religion Groups	50	17	9	4	20	763,757

Table 3.5: Highest level of qualification by current religion of All People pensionable age-74 years

Row percentages

	No qualifications or qualifications out with these groups	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Base
Church of Scotland	65	14	6	2	13	347,649
Roman Catholic	74	10	5	1	9	92,396
Other Christian	53	14	7	2	24	45,817
Buddhist	60	6	6	2	27	322
Hindu	34	8	3	3	52	289
Jewish	51	14	12	1	21	895
Muslim	80	6	2	1	10	1,311
Sikh	82	6	3	1	8	343
Another Religion	51	10	7	3	29	809
No religion	61	11	6	2	19	69,870
Not Answered	66	12	6	2	15	23,414
All Religion Groups	65	13	6	2	14	583,115

No Qualifications

Chart 3.1 illustrates clearly that the proportion of people with no qualifications (or only qualifications out with those listed in the Census) is highly correlated with age. This data simply collates that already presented in Tables 3.2-3.5.

Chart 3.1: Adults with no qualifications (or qualifications out with those listed in the Census) by current religion - All People aged 16-74 years

Percentages

Older people are considerably more likely to have no qualifications than those in younger age bands. For example, 19% of Sikhs aged 16-29 years have no qualifications but this figure increases to 82% for Sikhs of pensionable age-74 years.

Student Population

Details of the proportion of full-time students in each religion group are presented in Chart 3.2. Around 1 in 5 (20.6%) people from Another Religion are full-time students. The Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist populations also have a high proportion of full-time students, with 18.2%, 16.0% and 15.6% respectively. In comparison, only 2.5% of people from the Church of Scotland and 4.6% of Roman Catholics are full-time students.

Chart 3.2: Proportion of full-time students as a percentage of all persons aged 18 years and above by current religion

Percentages