Occasional Paper: Summary Characteristics of UK Armed Forces Veterans - Scotland's Census 2022

Key points

• The structure of the veteran population differed substantially to the non-veteran population in relation to age and sex, with the veteran population being older and predominantly male.
• However, the veteran population is not homogenous; there are differences in the make up of the veteran population.
• A quarter (25.7%) are aged 80 and over, reflecting National Service policy (1939 to 1960) inclusive of War Service (to 1948).
• Of the total UK Armed Forces veteran population in Scotland (176,084), 88% were male and 12% were female.
• As would be expected given the older-age profile of veterans, there is less ethnic diversity among them than non-veterans. However, this doesn’t account for all of the difference, with for example a smaller proportion of younger veterans (those aged between 16 and 49 years old) having a minority ethnic background than their non-veteran counterparts (5.4% versus 19.0%).  
• Non-veterans were more likely to report "no religion" than veterans; 38.9% of veterans had no religion, compared to 49.3% of non-veterans. Reporting of “no religion” decreased with age, similar to the non-veteran population.
• The percentage of people reporting a disability or long-term health problem was higher among veterans (43.2%) than non-veterans (26.6%). However, it is important to note the proportion of older people in the veteran population and the relationship between older age and disability. When looking at comparable age groups, the difference between populations is smaller, for example slightly more older veterans (aged 80 and over) reported a long-term health problem (72.0%) than non-veterans (71.5%).
• The veteran population was spread out geographically across Scotland. The council area with the highest share of the veteran population was Fife (9.8% of veterans).