The Scottish Government

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3. Who we are

Introduction

This chapter provides information on the main characteristics of the Scottish population and Scottish households. The SHS collects information on a number of levels: for the household as a whole, about individual household members and for the Scottish population resident in private households. Data about the household, including information about the age, sex and working status of all household members is collected from the household respondent. Data designed to be representative of the Scottish adult population is collected from an adult selected randomly from all eligible adults within the household. ⁹

Please refer to Chapter 2 for more information about interpreting the information in the tables in this section.

Household size and type

The structure of households is illustrated in Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2. Most households are small. Almost a third of households (32%) contain only one adult (single adult or single pensioner) and almost a third (32%) contain two adults (small adult and older smaller). Only 5% of households contain five or more people.

Figure 3-3 shows the number of children in households. A quarter of households (25%) contain children with most of these containing one or two children.

Table 3.1 shows the sex of the Highest Income Householder ( HIH) by household type. In the majority of households (60%), the HIH is male. Where the HIH is female, this tends to be in households with only one adult, where there is no male adult in the household (single adult, single parent and single pensioner households). In 92% of single parent households, the HIH is female.

Household composition

Of the households containing children, 53% are small families (two adults and one or two children) and 25% are large families (two adults and three or more children, or three or more adults and one or more children). Single parent families account for 22% of all households with children ( Table 3.4)

The sex and age of household members is shown in Table 3-3. There are more female than male household members: 52% compared with 48%. A fifth (20%) of household members are aged under 16 while 23% are aged 60 or over.

Looking at the characteristics of the adult population ( Table 3.6), 56% are women and 44% are men. Those aged 16 to 24 make up 11% of the adult population, while those aged 75 or over account for 10%. Over half (54%) are married and 8% are cohabiting.

Table 3.11 shows that 83% of those aged 16 to 24 are single compared with 33% of those aged 25 to 34 and 14% of those aged 35 to 44. Of those aged 25 to 34, 21% are cohabiting and 41% are married while, of those aged 35 to 44, 10% are cohabiting and 63% are married. Half (50%) of those aged 75 or over are widowed.

Almost half (48%) of adults in Single Parent households have never been married, 20% are divorced and 23% are separated ( Table 3.12).

Compared with other areas, one-person households are more common in large urban areas and remote small towns. Households with four or more members are less prevalent in these areas ( Table 3.15).

One-person households are more common than two-person households in six local authorities. The largest differences are in Glasgow City (41%; 31%) and Dundee City (41%; 33%) ( Table 3.16).

Figure 3-1: Household type 2003/2004 data Households	Figure 3-2: Number of people in the household 2003/2004 data Households

Table 3.1: Sex of Highest Income Householder by household type
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	Single adult	Small adult	Single parent	Small family	Large family	Large adult	Older smaller	Single pensioner	All
Male	57	68	8	76	75	76	80	26	60
Female	43	32	92	24	25	24	20	74	40
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	4,976	5,153	1,777	4,248	2,036	2,938	4,655	5,039	30,822

Table 3.2: Household type by age of Highest Income Householder
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 59	60 to 74	75 plus	All
Single adult	35	27	18	24	5	-	16
Small adult	27	23	13	31	6	-	17
Single parent	19	16	11	2	0	-	6
Small family	11	27	36	9	1	0	14
Large family	1	6	16	8	1	0	6
Large adult	6	1	6	22	7	2	10
Older smaller	-	0	1	3	44	33	15
Single pensioner	-	-	0	0	36	64	16
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	1,239	4,064	6,238	8,384	6,939	3,958	30,822

Table 3.3: Characteristics of household members
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
All household members

Sex
Male	48
Female	52
All	100
Base	69,677

Age
0-15	20
16-24	10
25-34	11
35-44	15
45-59	20
60-74	16
75 plus	7
All	100
Base	69,677

Ethnicity
Scottish	87.3
Other British	8.7
Irish	0.8
Any other White background	1.4
Any mixed background	0.2
Indian	0.2
Pakistani	0.5
Bangladeshi	0.1
Chinese	0.2
Any other Asian background	0.3
Caribbean	0.0
African	0.2
Any other Black background	0.0
Any other background	0.2
All	100
Base	69,677

The ethnicity data collected in the SHS is comparable to census data. See Scottish Household Survey: Fieldwork Outcomes 2003/2004 for further details.

Figure 3-3: Total number of children in household
2003/2004 data
Households

Table 3.4: Household type by whether there are children in household
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	No children	Children	All
Single adult	22	-	16
Small adult	23	-	17
Single parent	-	22	6
Small family	-	53	14
Large family	-	25	6
Large adult	13	-	10
Older smaller	20	-	15
Single pensioner	22	-	16
All	100	100	100
Base	22,761	8,061	30,822

Table 3.5: Ages of children in households by family type
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households with children

	Couple with 1-2 children	Couple with 3+ children	Single parent family	All families
0-3	35	56	33	37
4-6	25	64	31	30
7-9	26	76	32	33
10-12	29	73	35	35
13-15	33	57	31	35
Base	5,405	879	1,777	8,061

Note: Columns add up to more than 100% due to multiple response

Table 3.6: The characteristics of adult population
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

Sex		Ethnicity
Male	44	Scottish	86.3
Female	56	Other British	9.8
All	100	Irish	1.0
Base	28,746	Any other White background	1.5
		Any mixed background	0.1
Age		Indian	0.2
16 to 24	11	Pakistani	0.4
25 to 34	14	Bangladeshi	0.0
35 to 44	19	Chinese	0.2
45 to 59	26	Any other Asian background	0.3
60 to 74	21	Caribbean	0.0
75 plus	10	African	0.2
All	100	Any other Black background	0.0
Base	28,746	Any other background	0.1
		All	100
Marital status		Base	28,746
Married	54
Cohabiting (living together)	8
Single/never been married	20
Widowed	10
Divorced	5
Separated	3
All	100
Base	28,746

Table 3.7: Age and sex of adult population
Column percentage, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

	Male	Female	All
16 to 24	11	10	11
25 to 34	14	14	14
35 to 44	19	19	19
45 to 59	26	25	26
60 to 74	21	20	21
75 plus	8	11	10
All	100	100	100
Base	12,242	16,504	28,746

Table 3.8: Household type by sex of adult population
Column percentage, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

	Male	Female	All
Single adult	13	8	10
Small adult	20	17	18
Single parent	0	6	4
Small family	15	15	15
Large family	10	9	9
Large adult	18	15	16
Older smaller	18	16	17
Single pensioner	6	13	10
All	100	100	100
Base	12,242	16,504	28,746

Table 3.9: Marital status by sex of adult population
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

	Male	Female	All
Married	58	51	54
Cohabiting (living together)	8	7	8
Single/never been married	22	19	20
Widowed	5	13	10
Divorced	4	6	5
Separated	2	3	3
All	100	100	100
Base	12,242	16,504	28,746

Table 3.10: Household type by age of adult population
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 59	60 to 74	75 plus	All
Single adult	9	16	11	16	3	-	10
Small adult	18	27	14	36	5	-	18
Single parent	5	9	7	1	0	-	4
Small family	9	31	39	9	0	0	15
Large family	19	8	19	9	1	0	9
Large adult	40	9	9	26	9	4	16
Older smaller	0	1	1	3	57	43	17
Single pensioner	-	-	-	-	24	52	10
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	2,316	4,208	5,393	6,775	6,387	3,667	28,746

Table 3.11: Age and marital status of adult population
Row and column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

		Married	Cohabiting	Single	Widowed	Divorced	Separated	All	Row total	Row base
16 to 24	Row	4	12	83	0	0	0		100	2,316
	Column	1	17	44	0	0	1	11
25 to 34	Row	41	21	33	0	2	3		100	4,208
	Column	11	38	23	0	5	16	14
35 to 44	Row	63	10	14	1	7	6		100	5,393
	Column	22	25	13	1	23	39	19
45 to 59	Row	72	4	8	3	9	3		100	6,775
	Column	34	15	10	9	43	32	26
60 to 74	Row	66	1	6	18	6	1		100	6,387
	Column	25	4	6	39	24	11	21
75 plus	Row	40	0	8	50	2	0		100	3,667
	Column	7	0	4	51	4	2	10
All		54	8	20	10	5	3		100	28,746
Column total		100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Column base		12,705	1,862	6,431	4,313	2,265	1,170	28,746

Table 3.12: Household type and marital status of adult population
Row and column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Adult population

		Married	Cohabiting (living together)	Single/ never been married	Widowed	Divorced	Separated	All	Row total	Row base
Single adult	Row	3	1	59	7	22	10		100	4,920
	Column	0	1	29	7	41	35	10
Small adult	Row	64	20	10	1	3	1		100	4,664
	Column	22	49	9	2	10	9	18
Single parent	Row	4	1	48	4	20	23		100	1,755
	Column	0	0	8	1	13	30	4
Small family	Row	77	16	4	1	2	2		100	3,807
	Column	21	30	3	1	5	9	15
Large family	Row	66	7	23	1	1	1		100	1,794
	Column	12	9	11	1	2	3	9
Large adult	Row	57	3	35	2	1	1		100	2,487
	Column	17	6	28	4	4	4	16
Older smaller	Row	86	2	5	5	1	0		100	4,340
	Column	27	4	5	10	4	1	17
Single pensioner	Row	2		14	70	11	2		100	4,999
	Column	0		7	74	20	9	10
All		54	8	20	10	5	3	100	100	28,746
Column total		100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Column base		12,705	1,862	6,431	4,313	2,265	1,170	28,746

Table 3.13: Household type by local authority
Row percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	Single adult	Small adult	Single parent	Small family	Large family	Large adult	Older smaller	Single pensioner	All	Base
Aberdeen City	22	20	4	13	6	9	14	13	100	1,232
Aberdeenshire	11	17	4	17	8	12	16	15	100	1,237
Angus	16	17	5	14	5	8	16	19	100	628
Argyll and Bute	14	14	6	15	5	8	17	20	100	551
Clackmannanshire	16	15	6	15	7	11	14	15	100	579
Dumfries and Galloway	13	16	4	14	6	9	21	18	100	815
Dundee City	21	16	5	12	4	8	14	21	100	866
East Ayrshire	16	18	7	17	6	7	14	16	100	696
East Dunbartonshire	8	12	4	18	8	15	19	16	100	553
East Lothian	14	15	5	18	6	9	20	13	100	549
East Renfrewshire	10	13	5	19	10	10	18	15	100	580
Edinburgh City	22	20	5	12	5	7	13	16	100	2,509
Eilean Siar	17	14	6	11	6	10	19	18	100	549
Falkirk	15	20	6	15	6	11	14	14	100	824
Fife	14	18	6	14	7	9	16	16	100	2,083
Glasgow City	22	15	7	10	7	8	12	19	100	3,294
Highland	12	18	5	16	8	11	17	13	100	1,167
Inverclyde	14	12	6	12	6	13	16	20	100	554
Midlothian	13	18	8	15	8	9	15	15	100	561
Moray	12	19	4	17	9	9	17	14	100	613
North Ayrshire	18	17	7	13	6	9	15	15	100	752
North Lanarkshire	14	15	7	15	6	12	15	15	100	1,758
Orkney	16	18	5	13	9	9	15	16	100	665
Perth and Kinross	12	18	6	14	4	8	19	20	100	674
Renfrewshire	15	15	6	12	8	11	17	17	100	1,000
Scottish Borders	16	20	5	14	7	7	15	17	100	663
Shetland	23	15	7	11	7	6	12	19	100	653
South Ayrshire	13	17	7	11	6	11	17	18	100	624
South Lanarkshire	14	16	6	14	7	12	15	16	100	1,587
Stirling	13	17	6	16	6	11	16	16	100	612
West Dunbartonshire	17	14	9	14	6	11	11	19	100	509
West Lothian	14	19	5	19	7	12	12	12	100	885
Scotland	16	17	6	14	6	10	15	16	100	30,822

Table 3.14: Household type by urban/rural classification
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Single adult	20	15	13	18	11	12	16
Small adult	16	17	17	14	19	17	17
Single parent	6	6	6	6	4	4	6
Small family	12	15	16	14	16	13	14
Large family	6	6	7	4	8	7	6
Large adult	9	10	10	8	10	10	10
Older smaller	14	14	16	17	18	19	15
Single pensioner	17	17	15	19	13	17	16
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	11,265	8,622	3,196	1,379	3,744	2,613	30,819

Table 3.15: Household size by urban/rural classification
Column percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
One	36	31	28	36	24	29	32
Two	33	34	36	34	39	39	35
Three	14	16	16	14	16	14	15
Four	11	14	15	12	14	12	13
Five or more	5	5	6	4	6	6	5
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	11,265	8,622	3,196	1,379	3,744	2,613	30,819

Table 3.16: Household size by local authority
Row percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	One	Two	Three	Four	Five or more	All	Base
Aberdeen City	34	35	14	12	4	100	1,232
Aberdeenshire	26	35	17	16	7	100	1,237
Angus	35	36	12	14	4	100	628
Argyll and Bute	34	34	14	13	4	100	551
Clackmannanshire	31	33	17	13	6	100	579
Dumfries and Galloway	31	38	13	12	5	100	815
Dundee City	41	33	13	11	2	100	866
East Ayrshire	31	36	15	14	4	100	696
East Dunbartonshire	23	34	18	17	7	100	553
East Lothian	27	37	15	16	5	100	549
East Renfrewshire	24	33	16	19	7	100	580
Edinburgh City	37	36	12	11	4	100	2,509
Eilean Siar	34	36	13	11	6	100	549
Falkirk	28	37	19	11	4	100	824
Fife	29	38	14	13	5	100	2,083
Glasgow City	41	31	13	10	5	100	3,294
Highland	26	37	19	12	6	100	1,167
Inverclyde	34	32	17	13	4	100	554
Midlothian	25	39	16	14	7	100	561
Moray	24	38	17	15	6	100	613
North Ayrshire	33	35	14	12	5	100	752
North Lanarkshire	30	33	18	14	5	100	1,758
Orkney	32	35	15	12	7	100	665
Perth and Kinross	30	40	14	12	4	100	674
Renfrewshire	32	34	17	12	5	100	1,000
Scottish Borders	32	39	13	11	5	100	663
Shetland	36	33	11	14	6	100	653
South Ayrshire	31	37	15	12	5	100	624
South Lanarkshire	29	35	15	15	6	100	1,587
Stirling	29	37	16	14	4	100	612
West Dunbartonshire	35	31	16	13	5	100	509
West Lothian	26	34	19	17	5	100	885
Scotland	32	35	15	13	5	100	30,822

Table 3.17: Whether household has children by local authority
Row percentages, 2003/2004 data
Households

	No children	Has children	All	Base
Aberdeen City	77	23	100	1,232
Aberdeenshire	71	29	100	1,237
Angus	77	23	100	628
Argyll and Bute	74	26	100	551
Clackmannanshire	72	28	100	579
Dumfries and Galloway	76	24	100	815
Dundee City	78	22	100	866
East Ayrshire	71	29	100	696
East Dunbartonshire	70	30	100	553
East Lothian	72	28	100	549
East Renfrewshire	66	34	100	580
Edinburgh City	78	22	100	2,509
Eilean Siar	77	23	100	549
Falkirk	73	27	100	824
Fife	73	27	100	2,083
Glasgow City	76	24	100	3,294
Highland	71	29	100	1,167
Inverclyde	75	25	100	554
Midlothian	70	30	100	561
Moray	70	30	100	613
North Ayrshire	74	26	100	752
North Lanarkshire	71	29	100	1,758
Orkney	74	26	100	665
Perth and Kinross	76	24	100	674
Renfrewshire	74	26	100	1,000
Scottish Borders	75	25	100	663
Shetland	75	25	100	653
South Ayrshire	75	25	100	624
South Lanarkshire	72	28	100	1,587
Stirling	73	27	100	612
West Dunbartonshire	71	29	100	509
West Lothian	69	31	100	885
Scotland	74	26	100	30,822

Table 3.18: Whether household has children by urban/rural classification
Row percentage, 2003/2004 data
Households

	No children	Has children	All	Base
Large urban areas	76	24	100	11,265
Other urban areas	73	27	100	8,622
Accessible small towns	71	29	100	3,196
Remote small towns	75	25	100	1,379
Accessible rural	72	28	100	3,744
Remote rural	75	25	100	2,613
Scotland	74	26	100	30,819

Table 3.19: Mean number of children by urban/rural classification
2003/2004 data
Households with children

	Households with children
Large urban areas	1.67
Other urban areas	1.68
Accessible small towns	1.73
Remote small towns	1.69
Accessible rural	1.76
Remote rural	1.81
Scotland	1.70
Base	8,060

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