Scotland’s Census 2022 - Demography and migration

An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland

Published: 01 August 2024

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This report presents census data on household demographics and migration. These statistics show how Scotland’s people, and how they live, are changing.

Households

On Census Day there were 2,509,300 households with at least one usual resident. This is up 136,500 (5.8%) from the 2011 census. The percentage increase in the number of households (5.8%) was higher than the increase in the population (2.7%).

The increase in the number of households was mostly due to a 106,700 increase in single person households (up 13.0%). The 2021 census in England and Wales showed a smaller percentage increase in single person households since 2011 (up 5.9%). The 2021 census in Northern Ireland showed a larger increase (up 19.5%).

There were 930,000 single person households in Scotland in 2022. Over a third of all households were single person (37.1%). Single person was the most common household size, followed by two person households (856,000).

Older people living alone

Over half a million people aged 55 and over were living alone in 2022 (553,200). And most of the increase in people living alone was in this age group. In 2022 there were 40,600 more people aged 55 to 64 living alone than in 2011. There were also increases in people living alone among the 65 to 74 and 75 and over age groups.

Older people are more likely to live alone than younger people. Around 1 in 6 people living in households aged 16 to 54 lived alone in 2022 (14.1%). Around 1 in 3 people living in households aged 55 and over lived alone (30.1%). This is similar to 2011 when 29.6% of over 55s lived alone.

On average over 55s were as likely to live alone in 2022 as they were a decade earlier. So the increase in number of older people living alone was driven by the increase in the overall number of older people since 2011.

The percentage of people living alone who were female increases as we move up through older age groups. Just over half of 55 to 64 year olds living alone were female (51.7%). This reflects the fact that in Scotland females have higher life expectancy than males (Table 1, Life Expectancy in Scotland, 2020-2022, NRS).

Figure 3 shows the percentage of the total population in each council area that is aged 55 and over and lives alone. Na h-Eileanan Siar (13.7%), Argyll & Bute (13.4%) and Inverclyde (12.5%) had the largest percentage of their population aged 55+ and living alone.