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Publication - Statistics

Local Government Candidates Survey 2022

Published
14 November 2022
From
Director of Performance, Delivery and Resilience
Directorate
Performance, Delivery and Resilience Directorate
ISBN
9781805252153

A voluntary demographic survey of candidates running in the Scottish Local Government elections of 2022

View supporting documents Supporting documents

6. Age

Candidates were asked for their age at their last birthday, with the largest proportion of respondents being aged between 55 and 64 (28%). Overall, 70% of respondents were over the age of 45.

Figure 6: Age at last birthday

Bar chart visualising proportion of respondents split by their age at last birthday. The chart shows that the majority of respondents were over the age of 45.

Comparing the survey data with the wider Scottish population we can see, as per figure 7 below, that the largest discrepancy exists in the overrepresentation of those aged 55-64 amongst respondents (difference of 12 percentage points) followed by equal levels of underrepresentation amongst those aged 18 to 24 (7 percentage points) and those aged 75 and over (also 7 percentage points).

Figure 7: Percentage point difference in age compared to Scottish population

Line chart comparing age of respondents against Scottish population. The chart shows that the age profile of respondents was older than the population as a whole.

Figure 8 below displays the age ranges of those that were successfully elected compared to those who were not. Again we can see that amongst the elected candidates the majority (72%) were aged 45 or over.

Figure 8: Percentage distribution of age ranges of elected and unelected candidates

Bar chart visualising age group of respondents split by electoral outcome (i.e. who was successfully elected). Chart shows that the majority of individuals who were successfully elected were older.

Contact

Email: Arfan.Iqbal@Gov.Scot

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