Discrimination and Harassment in Scotland, results from the 2023 Scottish Household Survey

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)

The SIMD is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas (called data zones). If an area is identified as ‘deprived’, this can relate to people having a low income, but it can also mean fewer resources or opportunities. SIMD looks at the extent to which an area is deprived across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing.

Respondents in the 20% most deprived areas reported the highest levels of discrimination (11%) and harassment (8%) compared to the other SIMD quintiles. For comparison, among respondents in the 20% least deprived areas, 5% reported discrimination and 3% reported harassment (Table 1).

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 upon two main criteria: (i) population, as defined by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), and (ii) accessibility, based on drive time analysis to differentiate between accessible and remote areas in Scotland.

People in large urban areas reported discrimination somewhat more than those in remote rural areas (8% compared to 5%). This was also the case for reporting of harassment (6% compared to 3%) (Table 3).