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Social Focus on Women and Men 2002

appendix: Definitions and Terms

Symbols and Conventions

Symbols.

The following symbols have been used throughout Scottish Social Statistics:

.. not available

. not applicable

- negligible (less than half the final digit shown)

0 nil

Rounding of figures.

In tables where figures have been rounded to the nearest final digit, there may be an apparent discrepancy between the sum of the constituent items and the total as shown.

Units on tables.

Figures are shown in italics when they represent percentages.

Definitions and Terms

(i) Scottish Household Survey (SHS)

"Household" is defined as one person or a group of people living in accommodation as their only or main residence and either sharing at least one meal a day or sharing the living accommodation.

"Household type" is defined as follows:

Single pensioner: one adult of pensionable age1 and no children

Single parent: an adult of any age and one or more children.

Single adult: an adult of non-pensionable age1 and no children.

Older smaller: an adult of non-pensionable age and one of pensionable age¹and no children, or two adults of pensionable age¹ and no children.

Large adult: three or more adults and no children.

Small adult: two adults of non-pensionable age1 and no children.

Large family: two adults and three or more children, or three or more adults and one or more children.

Small family: two adults and one or two children.

¹ Pensionable age refers to men aged 65 and over and to women aged 60 and over

(ii) Labour Force Survey

"Employment rate" is those who are in employment expressed as a percentage of all persons of working age.

"ILO unemployment rate" is the International Labour Organisation recommended measure, which counts those of working age who are without a job, are available to start work in the next 2 weeks, and have been seeking a job in the last 4 weeks, or are waiting to start a job already obtained, as unemployed. It is expressed as a percentage of the economically active of working age.

"Economically active" are those who are in employment or ILO unemployed of working age.

"Economic activity rate" is those who are in employment or ILO unemployed expressed as a percentage of those economically active plus those outside the labour market (the economically inactive), of working age.

"Economically inactive" are those who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, all those who were looking after a home or retired.

"Full time" employees are those who work over 30 hours per week.

"Part time" employees are those who work under 30 or under hours per week.

"Disabled people" are people that answered yes to the following question: "Do you have any health problems or disabilities that you expect will last for more than a year?".

(iii) Population

"Population estimates" are based on the number of residents counted in the 1991 Census (adjusted for definition differences and under counting) with allowances for subsequent births, deaths and migration. The population is defined to include all persons usually resident in Scotland whatever their nationality. Members of United Kingdom and non-UK armed forces stationed in Scotland are included. Armed Forces stationed outside Scotland are excluded. Students are treated as being resident at their term-time address.

"1998 based Population Projections" are prepared by the Government Actuary in consultation with the Registrar General. Some information about the assumptions used in the projections is given below.

• Base population: The projection was based on the Registrar General's mid-1998 population estimates.
• Fertility: The fertility rates used in the projection were based on assumptions about the average completed family size of successive cohorts of women. It was assumed that the average completed family size will continue to decline from the current figure of over 2 children per woman for those born in the early 1950s and reaching the end of their child bearing lives, to 1.66 for those born in 1972, before rising again to 1.75 for those born in 1987 and later.
• Mortality: the mortality rates for the first year of the projection, 1998-99, were based on estimates of the numbers of deaths in that period that were available in the autumn of 1999. The mortality rates for later years were based on long-term trends up to 1998-99. Generally, mortality rates were assumed to fall, though at some young adult ages it has been assumed that rates will continue to experience small increases for some years to come. In line with the long-term trends, it has been assumed that the mortality rates for Scotland will continue to be higher than those for England & Wales.
• Migration: Assumptions about future levels of migration are based on analyses of trends in civilian migration to and from the UK and between the four constituent countries of the UK. For the 1998 based projections, a net migration loss of 1,000 persons a year for Scotland is projected from 2001 onwards; a net loss of 3,000 persons a year was assumed in the previous, 1996 based, projections. Most of the change is attributed to a reduction in the assumed level of migration loss to the other UK constituent countries.

(iv) Housing

"Household projections" are produced approximately every 2 years. Their purpose is to give an indication of possible future numbers of households if trends observed in the past continue. The calculation of projected household numbers involves using the following two main sources of information:

• Data on households from previous Censuses of Population can be used to identify trends which have taken place in household formation in the past. Census information is available for the years 1971, 1981 and 1991. This historic information is used to project possible future trends..
• Population projections produced by the General Register Office for Scotland give an indication of possible future trends in population. Estimates of the numbers of persons living in communal establishments are subtracted from the total population figures to produce projections of the numbers of person living in private households.

The household projections are then calculated by applying projected trends in household formation, derived from the first of these sources, to projections of the numbers of persons in private households, derived from the second source.

"Dwellings" are buildings or parts of buildings which form a separate and self-contained set of premises designed to be occupied by a family or, in some cases, groups of individuals (e.g. hostels or cluster flat). Temporary dwellings are excluded.

"Private Sector": dwellings owned by private landlords, whether persons or companies, and owner-occupiers.

"Housing Associations": societies, bodies of trustees, or companies established for the purpose of providing housing accommodation on a non-profit making basis. They also provide housing for special groups such as the aged, disabled, single persons, or housing on a mutual or self-build basis and in recent years, associations have extended their activities into provision of low cost housing for home ownership and regeneration of inner city areas.

"New Towns": In Scotland, New Town Development Corporations were established under the New Towns Acts for the purpose of laying out and developing New Towns.

"Scottish Homes": a housing agency that is primarily an enabling and funding body, but it also has a landlord function, having inherited all of the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) housing stock.

"Housing stock estimates": of the total dwelling stock from 1991 onwards are based on the 1991 Census. This 1991 baseline is updated each year using information on new housebuilding, conversion of property to housing use, and demolitions (collected on returns submitted to the Scottish Executive), together with public authorities' counts of their own stock, and Scottish Homes' count of housing association stock.

"Housebuilding: Dwellings Completed": a dwelling is completed when it is ready for occupation, whether in fact occupied or not. If a dwelling is transferred to another agency after completion it is considered to have been completed by the first agency.

(v) Income

"Net Household Income" is the total income of all members of the household, including dependants. It is net of the following items:

• Income tax payments
• National insurance contributions
• Domestic rates/council tax
• Contributions to occupational pension schemes
• All maintenance and child support payments
• Parental contributions to students living away from home

"Income After Housing Costs" is derived by deducting a measure of housing costs from the income measure. Components of housing costs include: rent, water rates , mortgage interest payments, and insurance premiums.

"Equivalised household income" is household income that has been "equivalised" in order to take into account the variations in the size and composition of the households in which individuals live. This is known as "equivalisation" and adjusts income in order to reflect the common sense notion that, for example,: a household of five adults will need a higher income than a person living alone in order for them to enjoy a comparable standard of living. It is needed in order to make sensible comparisons between households.

"Median income" is the income value which divides a population when ranked by income, into two equal sized groups.

"Earnings" as defined in the New Earnings Survey relate to gross pay before tax, national insurance or other deductions, and exclude payments in kind. Part-time employees are excluded from this measure as are those who are not on adult rates and those whose earnings have been affected by absence during the survey period. Payment of arrears from another period made during the survey period are excluded as are payments due as a result of a pay settlement but not yet paid at the time of the survey.

"Mean" or "Average" income or earnings, is the value found by adding up all the values in a population and dividing the result by the number of people.

The "Carstairs and Morris index of deprivation" is composed of four indicators, which were judged to represent material disadvantage in the population, using census data. The index also correlates well with a range of health inequalities. The four indicators are combined to create a composite score. The deprivation score is divided into seven separate categories, ranging from very high to very low deprivation. The seven categories were designed so as to retain the discriminatory features of the distribution of the deprivation score, rather than to ensure equality of numbers between each deprivation category. The four variables are:

• Overcrowding: persons in private households living at a density of more than one person per room as a proportion of all persons in private households
• Male unemployment: proportion of economically active males who are seeking work
• Social class 4 or 5: proportion of all persons in private households with head of household in social class 4 or 5
• No car: proportion of all persons in private households with no car

All of the proportions are calculated on the households in a given postcode sector.

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