Scottish household survey 2019: annual report

2 The Composition and Characteristics of Households in Scotland

There were slightly more women (51%) than men (49%) in Scotland in 2019.

Just over a quarter (28%) of the population were under 25 years old and around a quarter (25%) were 60 years old or over in 2019.

Just under a quarter (24%) of adults in Scotland reported having a limiting long-term health condition in 2019, one percentage point more than the year before.

The adult population in Scotland was largely 'White: Scottish'/'White: Other British', with 89% of adults having reported these ethnic groups in 2019. This has dropped since 2013 when 92% of adults identified as 'White: Scottish'/'White: Other British'. Over the same period there has been an increase in adults identifying as 'White: Other' from 5% in 2013 to 7% in 2019. Just over one in forty (3%) adults reported their ethnicity as 'Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British' in 2019.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of all adults (16+) in Scotland were permanently retired from work. Almost half (49%), of adults aged 16-64 were in full-time employment, 13% were employed part time and 8% were self-employed.

Around one in fifty (1.7%) adults reported their sexual orientation as gay or lesbian in 2019, this is an increase of half a percentage point since 2018.

Religious belonging in Scotland has been declining over the past decade, and this trend continued into 2019; over half of adults (56%) reported that they didn't belong to any religion, four percentage points more than in 2018. The proportion reporting that they didn't belong to any religion a decade previously in 2009 was just 40%.

The proportion of adults who had never been married or in a civil partnership has increased from 34% in 2013, to 36% in 2019.

Just over a third (35%) of households in Scotland were single occupancy households, i.e. single adult or pensioner households.

In 2019, over half (57%) of households which contain children were small families with two adults of any age and one or two children. Just under a quarter (23%) were large families with two adults of any age and three or more children, or three or more adults of any age and one child or more, and around a fifth (19%) were single parent^[15] households.

Just over three fifths (62%) of households were in a home they owned outright or were buying, around a quarter (24%) of households were in a home that was socially rented and 14% of households were in a home that was rented privately.

Scotland's population was largely urban-based, with over eight out of ten households (83%) located in urban areas in 2019.

In 2019, over half (51%) of households in Scotland earnt £25,000 or less a year. Around a quarter (24%) of households earnt more than £40,000 a year.