Scotland’s Census 2022 - Health, disability and unpaid care

An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland

Published: 03 October 2024

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This report presents census data on health, disability and unpaid care. These statistics show how Scotland’s people, and their day to day lives, are changing. 

Health conditions 

The census asked if people had a health condition which had lasted or was expected to last more than twelve months. A list of conditions was presented along with descriptions. People were asked to tick all that apply.

The most common type of condition reported in the census was a ‘long-term illness, disease or condition’. This was described on the census form as a condition that you may have for life, that may be managed with treatment or medication, and is not in one of the other categories. This is a broad category that includes a range of conditions such as Arthritis, Cancer, Diabetes and Epilepsy. The census found that the percentage of people reporting a long-term illness, disease or condition increased from 18.7% in 2011 to 21.4% in 2022.

This question included tick boxes for learning disabilities, learning difficulties and developmental disorders. There were changes to how the list of conditions was presented on the census form in 2022. These changes had an impact on how people responded to the question, particularly for the learning disabilities, learning difficulties and developmental disorders categories. Please see our quality report for more information.

We are doing additional work on the data for those three categories and will provide an update at a later date. In the meantime we have published a combined measure. The combined measure counts everyone who ticked one or more of the three boxes.

The census found that the percentage of people reporting a learning disability, learning difficulty, or developmental disorder increased from 2.8% in 2011 to 5.2% in 2022.

For context, Scottish Government pupil census data shows that the percentage of school pupils who had an Additional Support Need (ASN) due to a condition included in the learning difficulty or developmental disorder categories in the census increased between 2010 and 2021.

For example, the percentage of pupils who had an ASN due to dyslexia increased from 1.3% in 2010 to 3.6% in 2021. The percentage who had an ASN due to an autistic spectrum disorder increased from 1.0% in 2010 to 3.4% in 2021. However, the percentage who had an ASN due to a learning disability was unchanged over the same period (1.7%).

The second most common condition reported in the census was a mental health condition. The census found that the percentage of people reporting a mental health condition increased from 4.4% in 2011 to 11.3% in 2022. This increase from 232,900 to 617,100 people was the largest increase across condition types.

The increase in the number of people reporting a mental health condition was driven by a large increase among younger people. In 2022 younger people were more likely to report a mental health condition than older people. In 2011 the reverse was true. The largest increases were in the 16 to 24 age group. In 2022 15.4% of 16 to 24 year olds reported a mental health condition, up from 2.5% in 2011. 

It is important to note that census data on health conditions is self-reported. Changes over time may reflect people’s understanding of their circumstances and their willingness to report their health condition, as well as changes in prevalence. Increases in demand for services may be partially driven by decreased stigma and more awareness about mental health and wellbeing (Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, 2023, Scottish Government). 

The census asked people if they had a mental health condition which had lasted or was expected to last more than twelve months. The question described this as a condition that affects your emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. Scottish Health Survey data shows decreases in general mental wellbeing that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. For specific conditions such as depression, anxiety and self-harm there were clear increases in reporting throughout the last decade (Scottish Health Survey 2022, Scottish Government).  

A See Me study noted that mental health inequalities in Scotland appear to have increased during the pandemic. Young adults and women were found to be at greater risk of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts (The Scottish Mental Illness Stigma Study, 2022, See Me). 

The census found that a higher percentage of females reported a mental health condition across all age groups in 2022. We saw a similar pattern in 2011. The biggest difference in 2022 was among 16 to 24 year olds where the percentage of females (20.4%) reporting a mental health condition was twice as high as males (10.5%). 

A Scottish Government evidence summary noted that: “The impact of the pandemic on the well-being of girls continued to be greater across the UK. In particular, older young girls reported more feelings of loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and worry.” (COVID-19: children, young people and families - evidence summary - June 2021, Scottish Government). 

However there is evidence of differences between males and females pre-pandemic with adolescent girls in Scotland reporting lower levels of wellbeing than boys (Exploring the reported worsening of mental wellbeing among adolescent girls in Scotland, 2019, Scottish Government). There is also evidence that historically men have been less likely than women to seek support when worried or feeling low (Get it off your chest: Men's mental health 10 years on, Mind). 

General health

Scotland’s Census asked “How is your health in general?”. In 2022 a total of 4,288,700 people said their health was good or very good. This is a decrease of 64,800 people from 2011.

A total of 377,700 people said their health was bad or very bad. This is an increase of 80,700 people since 2011. This is mostly driven by Scotland’s ageing population and the increase in older people since 2011. 

There is a strong link between age and general health. In a population with more older people, you would expect worse health. Figure 4 shows how the percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health increases as we move up through the age groups.

In 2022 there were around 328,600 more people aged 50 or over than in 2011. So there would be more people reporting bad or very bad health even if rates were unchanged. 

Figure 4 also shows that there were small increases in the percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health in most age groups. This means the overall increase in the percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health is not entirely due to the higher number of older people compared to 2011. 

We should take the strong link between age and health into account when making comparisons between populations. Especially when comparing populations with different sizes and age profiles such as council areas in Scotland.  

We can do this by calculating age-standardised percentages which take account of differences in age profile. We have published age-standardised percentages and an explanation of how these were calculated. 

After age-standardising, we find 6.8% of people in Scotland said their health was bad or very bad in 2022 compared to 5.9% in 2011. Comparable figures for England and Wales show 5.4% of people reported bad or very bad health in the 2021 census. In Northern Ireland it was 8.2% of people. 

Figure 5 shows how the age-standardised percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health varied across council areas. Glasgow City council area had the highest percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health (10.8%) after accounting for age. Most of the council areas next to Glasgow City also had relatively high percentages (between 7.4% and 9.1%). The two exceptions were East Dunbartonshire (5.0%) and East Renfrewshire (4.9%). 

Census data also allows us to look at how smaller areas within a council area compare. Figure 6 shows how general health varied across intermediate zones in Glasgow City after accounting for age. The average intermediate zone in Glasgow is home to around 4,500 people. 

There are areas with relatively high percentages of people reporting bad or very bad health in all parts of the council area after accounting for age:  

• To the north, Keppochhill had 16.9% of people reporting bad or very bad health  

• In the south of the city we saw similar percentages in Crookston South (16.4%) and Glenwood South (16.5%) 

• In the east, Central Easterhouse (17.7%) and North Barlank and Easterhouse South (17.9%) also had relatively high percentages  

• In the west of the city Drumry East (19.3%) had the highest percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health 

There is a strip of intermediate zones north of the river that stand out. We see a gradual shift from light blue to dark blue on the map as we move from west to east through the centre of the city. This highlights a steady increase in people reporting bad or very bad health from Kelvinside and Jordanhill (4.2%) in the west to Dalmarnock (17.1%) in the east. 

Unpaid carers and people with a health problem or disability that limited their activities

The census asked people if they look after, or give any help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others. The question said this was support required because of long-term physical/mental ill-health/disability, or problems related to old age.

In this report we refer to people who said yes to this question as unpaid carers. There were 627,700 unpaid carers in Scotland in 2022. This was an increase of 27.5% (135,500) people since 2011.

Over the same period there was a 15.7% increase in the number of people with a health problem or disability that limited their day to day activities a lot (up 79,600). There was a 35.7% increase in the number whose day to day activities were limited a little (up 190,900).

Figure 7 shows that the number of people with a health problem that limited their day to day activities increased across all age groups. There is a strong relationship between this measure of health and age. Older people are more likely to have a health problem or disability that limits their activities than younger people.

The increase in the number of older people with an activity-limiting health problem or disability was driven by Scotland’s ageing population. The percentage of people aged 75 or older who have a health problem or disability that limits their day-to-day activities actually decreased over the decade (from 67.1% to 62.5%).

However the overall increase in older people meant there was an increase in the number of older people with an activity-limiting health problem or disability. More people in this group reported that their activities were limited a lot (53.0%) rather than a little (47.0%).

Younger people also saw increases in the number of people with a health problem or disability that limited their day-to-day activities. But for younger people these increases were relatively larger compared to 2011. The number of people aged 16 to 34 with a health problem or disability that limited their day to day activities almost doubled from 93,300 to 183,700.

This means that in 2022 around 1 in 7 people aged 16 to 34 (14.4%) had a health problem or disability that limited their day to day activities. More people in this group reported that their activities were limited a little (67.1%) rather than a lot (32.9%).

Figure 8 shows how the number of unpaid carers changed since 2011 across age groups. The biggest increase was in the 50 to 64 age group (up 62,700). The people in these age groups are likely to have parents in the oldest age groups. And we know that people in the oldest age groups are most likely to have a health problem or disability that limits their day to day activities.

In 2022 11.9% of people aged 3 and over were providing unpaid care. There was a higher percentage of females providing unpaid care (13.5%) than males (10.1%). Figure 9 shows that a higher percentage of females were unpaid carers across most age groups. The gap between females and males was highest in the 50 to 64 age group (23.9% v 16.7%). The 35 to 49 age group had the next largest gap between females and males (17.9% v 11.8%).

In 2022 more than half of unpaid carers (55.9%) spent 1 to 19 hours per week providing support. Another 24.3% spent 50 or more hours per week providing support. This is similar to 2011 when 55.5% of unpaid carers were in the 1 to 19 hours groups and 26.8% were in the 50 hours or more group.

Updates to this report

This report was updated on 21 November 2024 to include a combined measure of learning disabilities, learning difficulties and developmental disorders.

The report was originally published on 3 October 2024. No data on learning disabilities, learning difficulties or developmental disorders was included in the original report due to ongoing quality assurance work on that data.

Age-standardised data

There is a strong link between age and health. This should be accounted for when making comparisons between populations. Especially when comparing populations with different sizes and age profiles such as council areas in Scotland.  

We can do this by calculating age-standardised percentages which take account of differences in age profile. We have published age-standardised percentages and an explanation of how these were calculated. 

Other data published today

Search for Scotland’s Census 2022 data tables in the census data section.

This report includes data on:

• Long-term health conditions
• General health
• Provision of unpaid care
• Long-term health problem or disability

We have also published:

• Write-in responses for the long-term conditions question

We have also published data relating to previous topics:

• Passports held
• Living arrangements
• Write-in responses for the 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' topic report

Output areas tables are available to download separately.

Geography boundaries and lookups for use with census data are available on the NRS website. 

Privacy protection

All data tables have privacy protection applied to keep the data of individuals safe. Cells might not sum to sub totals and totals due to these Statistical Disclosure Controls (SDC). More information about SDC is available via the slides from our May 2024 webinars.

Working with census statistics

Census statistics represent the total population rather than just those who completed the questionnaire. Since the 2001 censuses, statistical modelling has been used across the United Kingdom to produce total population estimates from census responses.

As with all estimates, there is a level of uncertainty. Users should consider uncertainty when working with census estimates and interpreting small changes.

More information on quality

The quality of census data is important. We made innovative changes to our approach to account for the census response rate (89.8%) and ensure census statistics represent the total population rather than just those who completed the questionnaire.

We published a blog on the quality of small area statistics and why you can be confident using census data.

Quality assurance

We have published quality information for the variables included in this release alongside this report.

In 2023 we published a report on our approach to statistical quality assurance alongside the first release of data from Scotland’s Census 2022. We have carried out extensive quality assurance work to produce high quality census estimates.

Rounding

This report uses rounded estimates. Figures may not add exactly to totals because of the rounding. Unrounded census data is used to calculate percentages.

An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2023. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

Future census publications

We are publishing outputs from Scotland's Census 2022 in phases. This reflects the additional work required to produce more detailed census statistics.

Multivariate/Build your own tables

We aim to publish multivariate data in Winter 2024/25. This means we will publish tables which include more than one census topic variable. For example, ethnic group by country of birth.

Our Flexible Table Builder will allow users to create their own census tables. Users will be able to combine the different census variables they are interested in.

Release dates are listed on our census outputs release schedule page. 

Glossary

Age

A person's age on Census Day, 20 March 2022. 

Council Area

There are 32 council areas in Scotland. Councils provide public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning.

Intermediate zones

Intermediate zones are a statistical geography. They sit between data zones and local authorities. There are 1,279 intermediate zones covering the whole of Scotland. 

Sex

This is the sex recorded by the person completing the census. The options were "Female" and "Male".

We provided guidance on how to answer the sex question.

UK censuses 

The Office for National Statistics is responsible for the census in England and Wales. Data and supporting information is available on the ONS website.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency is responsible for the census in Northern Ireland. Data and supporting information is available on the NISRA website.

Contact us

Please get in touch if you need any further information, or have any suggestions for improvement.

E-mail: [email protected]
NRS customer services telephone: 0131 202 0451

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