Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland - A Comprehensive Analysis of the 2011 Census

3. Households

In 2011 Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland, compared to the population as a whole, were more likely to be divorced or separated, live in lone parent households and have 3 or more dependent children.

The following chapter describes how Gypsy/Traveller households and family structures compare to the rest of the Scottish population. Gypsy/Travellers were more likely to be divorced, be lone parents, and live in households with larger numbers of children.

Chart 10: Gypsy/Travellers by Household Composition, Scotland, 2011

The proportion of Gypsy/Traveller households containing one person was similar to that of the general population.

Gypsy/Travellers, however, were twice as likely to live in a lone parent household compared to the general population, and much less likely to be in a married couple household.

A small proportion of Gypsy/Traveller households were ‘one family households with all people aged 65 and over’, which could be expected given the younger profile of the population pyramid shown in Figure 1.1.

Chart 11: Gypsy/Travellers by Marital Status, Scotland, 2011

Almost half of Gypsy/Travellers (aged 16 and over) were single in 2011 compared to around a third of the general population. Gypsy/Travellers were less likely to be married and more likely to be divorced or separated compared to the population as a whole.

Chart 12: Gypsy/Traveller households by number of dependent children, Scotland, 2011

Gypsy/Traveller households were more likely to contain dependent children^[10] (36 per cent) than the population as a whole (26 per cent), and they were three times more likely to contain ‘three or more’ dependent children.