The Scottish Health Survey 2021: summary report

Chapter 1 General Health, CVD and CPR Training

Among all adults in 2021:

75% described their general health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’

8% described their general health as ‘very bad’ or ‘bad’

Self-assessed ‘very good’ or ‘good’ general health has increased since 2019, although it has remained at around 75% for most of the period 2008 to 2021.

A higher proportion of men self-assessed their general health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ in 2021.

77% men

73% women

The proportion of adults who self-assessed their general health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ decreased with age in 2021.

The proportion of adults who self-assessed their general health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ decreased with increasing levels of deprivation in 2021.

96% of children described their general health as ‘good’ or ‘very good’

1% of children described their general health as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’

Almost half of all adults reported living with a long-term condition in 2021.

47% living with a long-term condition

A third said they had a long-term condition which limited their day-to-day activities.

34% limited day-to-day activities

The proportion of adults living with a limiting long-term condition increased with age.

Following the same pattern as for all survey years since 2003, prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes was much higher in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived in 2021.

Higher proportions of men than women had:

In 2021, nearly two thirds of adults reported ever attending cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training.

61% CPR training

Of those who had ever attended training:

46% had attended refresher training

26% had received some form of training in the last two years women