Characteristics of migrants in Scotland: analysis of the 2011 census

3. Area and accommodation

Council area distribution

Half of all non- UK migrants (almost 184,000 people) were living in Scotland's three main cities: 75,700 in Edinburgh City; 72,700 in Glasgow City and 35,500 in Aberdeen City.

Chart 3.1 shows that migrants who had arrived recently were proportionally more likely to live in the three large city council areas. Nearly two-thirds of recent non- EEA migrants lived in the cities, compared to two-fifths of established non- EEA migrants.

Chart 3.1. Non- UK migrants living in Aberdeen City, Edinburgh City and Glasgow City council areas

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS Table AT_097_2011

Chart 3.2 shows that the origin of migrants varied across the three city council areas. In Glasgow City nearly half of migrants were recent arrivals from non- EEA countries. Edinburgh and Aberdeen had relatively large proportions of recent arrivals, both from EEA and non- EEA countries. Over half the migrant populations in all three city council areas were from non- EEA countries.

Chart 3.2. EEA and non- EEA migrants in Aberdeen City, Edinburgh City and Glasgow City council areas

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS Table AT_097_2011

Urban/rural classification

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification provides a consistent way of defining urban and rural areas across Scotland. The classification is based on two main criteria: population, as defined by the National Records of Scotland; and accessibility, based on drive time analysis to differentiate between accessible and remote areas in Scotland. ^[5] Chart 3.3 shows the population categorised by the 6-fold Urban/Rural Classification.

Non- UK migrants, particularly recent migrants, were primarily based in urban areas: 83 per cent of EEA recent migrants and 89 per cent of recent arrivals from non- EEA countries lived in large, or other, urban areas. 81 per cent of all non- UK migrants were based in urban areas: 300,000 of 369,000 migrants. However, established EEA and non- EEA migrants were less likely than recent migrants to live in urban areas.

Migrants born in the rest of the UK were the population group least likely to live in urban areas. Over 30 per cent were based in rural areas.

Chart 3.3. Residence in rural and urban locations: Scotland-born and all migrants

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS: Table AT_080b_2011

Area deprivation

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD) identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across Scotland. ^[6] It provides a deprivation rank for each of Scotland's 6,505 datazones. Below, the dataset is split into 10 equal groups or deciles.

Figure 3.1. shows that recent EEA and non- EEA migrants were the most likely to live in the most deprived areas: 15,000 recent migrants from EEA countries and 15,000 from non- EEA countries. However, recent non- EEA migrants were also proportionately more likely than other non- UK migrant groups to live in the least deprived areas.

The established EEA and non- EEA migrant groups were more evenly dispersed, with larger percentages in the less deprived deciles. However, because the numbers of established migrants were low, actual numbers in the ten groups ranged between 3,700 and 6,500 (established EEA) and 6,500 and 14,000 (established non- EEA).

The pattern was different for migrants born in the rest of the UK, with just 4 per cent (over 22,500) living in the most deprived areas and two-thirds of people (338,000) living in the five least deprived groups of areas.

Naturally, splitting the dataset into ten equal groups means that the majority population is likely to be relatively evenly distributed across those groups. This was the case for people born in Scotland.

Figure 3.1. Population groups living in each SIMD decile

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS: Table AT_089b_2011. Footnote: SIMD 1 - most deprived; SIMD 10 least deprived.

Given that the differences between the circumstances of recent and established non- UK migrants were greater than between EEA and non- EEA migrants, Figure 3.2 shows the recent non- UK migrant population grouped by the number of years since people arrived in Scotland.

Migrants who had arrived in the 2 years before the 2011 Census were proportionally least likely to live in the most deprived areas (9 per cent) and most likely to live in the least deprived areas (16 per cent), compared to other migrants. This finding is unexpected, and indicates that people who arrived most recently were different in some way from those who came to Scotland earlier. However, it is not possible to tell from the data what made them different.

Figure 3.2. Recent non- UK migrants and length of residence in the UK living in each SIMD decile

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS: Table AT_089b_2011.

Housing tenure

Chart 3.4 shows that the housing tenure of recent EEA and non- EEA migrants was very different from that of those people born in Scotland, the rest of the UK and established EEA and non- EEA migrant groups.

Recent EEA and non- EEA migrants were most likely to live in privately rented housing (more than half of both groups of recent migrants; approximately 120,000 people). However, the tenure arrangements of established non- UK migrants were similar to those of the Scotland-born population and migrants born in the rest of the UK (approximately 70 per cent, almost 97,000 people, were home owners).

Chart 3.4. Housing Tenure: Scotland-born and all migrants

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS: Table AT_088b_2011

It is likely that housing tenure is associated with length of residence. Figure 3.3 shows a clear pattern of fewer people in privately rented housing and higher house ownership with increased length of residence in the country. There is also likely to be a link between age and tenure arrangements, given that migrants tend to arrive when they are young.

The proportion of people in social rented accommodation was not related to length of residence.

Figure 3.3. Housing tenure and length of residence: all non- UK migrants in households

Source: Scotland's Census 2011 - NRS: Table AT_088a_2011