The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Scottish Household Survey 2001

13/11/2002

The third annual Scottish Household Survey and technical reports are released by the Executive today.

The annual report outlines the main findings from 2001, providing detailed information about people living in Scotland today, while the Technical Report provides technical details of the survey methodology and contains a summary copy of the survey questionnaire.

Commissioned by the Executive, the multi-purpose survey provides accurate, representative and up-to-date information on the characteristics, composition and behaviour of Scottish Households in a number of key policy areas, particularly relating to transport and social justice.

The results, a National Statistics Publication, are based on interviews carried out with over 15,000 households throughout Scotland in 2001.

Some of the key findings from the Annual Report include:

Who we are:

• 66% of households contain only one or two people, with single person households accounting for 31% of households
• Families with children make up 27% of all households
• 21% of households with children are single parent families

• 31% of households are pensioner households

• 1.4% of household members are from a non-white ethnic group
• 55% of adults are married, 7% cohabiting, 20% single, 10% widowed, 5% divorced and 3% separated.

Where we live:

• Owner-occupation accounts for 64% of households' tenure. Less than 30% of household rent from a social landlord and 6% rent from a private landlord
• 3% of households are living in accommodation which has fewer bedrooms than required
• Overall 8% of adults had lived in their current residence for less than a year while 10% had been resident for 31 years or more
• 14% of households have neither buildings nor contents insurance. Among renting households this proportion increases to 37%
• Over 90% of adults say their local area is either a 'very good' or 'fairly good' place to live, but 18% of local authority/Scottish Homes tenants and 14% of housing association or co-operative tenants say their area is either 'fairly poor' or 'very poor'
• 8% of adults have experienced a dispute with neighbours in the past 12 months
• 3% of adults interviewed have ever experienced homelessness
• 19% of adults think it is unsafe (either not particularly safe or not at all safe) to walk in their local area in the evening
• Just over a quarter of adults (26%) say that they feel involved in their communities either a great deal or a fair amount

What we do:

• 51% of adults are in some type of paid employment, 26% are retired, 3% unemployed, 8% looking after home or family, 4% in full-time education and 6% unable to work on the grounds of health and disability
• 59% of all working adults work more than 36 hours per week
• Just under two-thirds of female adults (65%) of working age are in paid employment
• 18% of female single parents are in full-time work compared to 39% overall
• 28% of adults of working age are undertaking some kind of training or education
• Overall 21% of adults have no qualifications. There are differences by age - 59% of 60 to 64 year olds have any qualifications compared with 93% of 16 to 24 year olds

How we live:

• Two thirds of households (65%) have access to at least one motor vehicle for private use
• 39% of households have a computer/PC
• 29% of households make use of the internet at home
• 53% of households have savings or investments
• 12% of households perceive themselves as not managing well financially
• 87% of households have a bank or building society. Single parent households are by far the least likely to have a bank or building society account (68%)
• 31% of households contain at least one person with a long-standing limiting illness health problem or disability
• 12% of households contain someone who needs regular help or care because they are sick, disabled or elderly
• A tenth of adults provide regular help or care for a sick, disabled or elderly person not living with them (which is not part of their employment)
• In 26% of households with children under 18 someone outside the household cared for the child(ren) for more than 5 hours in the week prior to the interview

Our Communities:

• A quarter of adults say that they gave up time in the previous 12 months to help as an organiser or volunteer for a charity, club, campaign or organisation
• 82% of adults either strongly agree or tend to agree that voting in local elections is important
• 43% of adults either tend to agree or strongly agree with the statement 'my local council provides high-quality services', while 32% disagree
• Over half (57%) of adults say that they have not recycled glass, plastic, metal cans or papers in the past month. The most common reason for not recycling is 'no facilities available' (27%)

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is a continuous, multi-purpose survey which started in February 1999 and is being carried out on behalf of the Executive by NFO System Three and MORI Scotland. The survey is based on a random sample of private households in Scotland.

The results presented in this report are based on face-to-face interviews, which took place between January and December 2001 (inclusive), and collected information from 15,566 households.

Copies of Scotland's People: Results from the 2001 Scottish Household Survey (Volume 5: Annual Report) priced at £20 and Scotland's People: Results from the 2001 Scottish Household Survey (Volume 6: Technical Report) priced at £15 are available from:

The Stationery Office Bookshop
71 Lothian Road
Edinburgh EH3 9AZ
Tel: 0870 606 55 66

Both reports are freely available from the survey's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/shs