Scotland’s Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion

A National Statistics Publication for Scotland

Published: 21 May 2024

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This report presents census data on religion, ethnic group, country of birth, national identity and language. These statistics show how Scotland, its people and its culture are changing. Key themes include migration and Scotland’s ageing population.

Religion

For the first time in Scotland’s Census, the majority of people said they had no religion. In 2022 51.1% of people had no religion, up from 36.7% in 2011.

Scotland’s Census asked people what religion they belong to. This was a voluntary question, first used in 2001. In 2022 6.2% of people did not answer the religion question. Percentages are calculated using the overall population, not just those who answered the religion question.

The percentage of people with no religion has increased since 2001.

Other UK countries also saw increases in the percentage of people with no religion over recent decades. Census data from England and Wales shows a similar trend to Scotland but from a lower starting point. In 2021 37.2% had no religion, up from 14.8% in 2001. Census data from Northern Ireland shows an increase from 13.9% in 2001 (no religion and no response combined) to 17.4% in 2021 (no religion only).

The increase in people with no religion in Scotland coincided with a decrease in people who said they belong to the Church of Scotland. In 2022 20.4% responded ‘Church of Scotland’, down from 32.4% in 2011 and from 42.4% in 2001. This is a fall of 610,100 people since 2011, and over 1 million since 2001. However ‘Church of Scotland’ remained the largest group among those who said they had a religion.

The next largest religious groups were ‘Roman Catholic’ (13.3%), ‘Other Christian’ (5.1%) and ‘Muslim’ (2.2%). These groups saw smaller changes since the last census than ‘Church of Scotland’. The number of people who described themselves as Roman Catholic decreased by 117,700 since 2011, whilst the number in the Other Christian category decreased by 12,000. The number of people who described themselves as Muslim increased by 43,100 over the same period.

Males (53.8%) were more likely to have no religion than females (48.6%). This was also true in 2011 and 2001.

Young people are more likely to say they have no religion than people in older age groups. This was true in 2001 when this question was first asked, and in each census since.

Between 2011 and 2022 we saw increases in the ‘no religion’ category across all age groups. In the 65+ age group the number with no religion has more than doubled since 2011 - an increase of 186,700 people (from 14.1% to 28.6%).

The size of the increases in ‘no religion’ across age groups suggests it is not only due to younger people, who are less religious on average, becoming a decade older and moving up between age categories. Some people in each age group appear to have described themselves as having a religion in 2011, but not in 2022.

‘No religion’ was the most common response in every council area in Scotland except in Na h-Eileanan Siar and Inverclyde, where ‘Church of Scotland’ (35.3%) and ‘Roman Catholic’ (33.4%) were the most common responses respectively. In Na h-Eileanan Siar the percentage of people with no religion increased from 11.4% in 2001 to 29.9% in 2022. These increases are similar in proportion to the increases seen across Scotland, but from a much lower starting point.

Ethnic group

The percentage of people in Scotland with a minority ethnic background increased from 8.2% in 2011 to 12.9% in 2022. This is a larger increase than over the previous decade (from 4.5% to 8.2%).

Scotland’s Census asked people to choose the option that best described their ethnic group or background. The majority of people in Scotland chose ‘Scottish’ (77.7%) or ‘Other British’ (9.4%) within the White category. In 2022 these groups together made up 87.1% of the population.

‘Minority ethnic group’ is used here to refer to all other ethnic groups. This includes some ethnic groups that were in the White category on the census form such as Irish, Polish, Gypsy/Traveller, Roma and Showman/Showwoman.

The increase in people from minority ethnic backgrounds was driven by increases across several different groups.

The ‘Other white’ category saw an increase of 56,600 people. Around three out of four people in this group had European heritage – they wrote in ‘European’, or wrote in a European country to define their ethnic background.

The ‘Mixed or multiple ethnic group’ category saw an increase of 41,100 people. This category contains a wide range of write-in responses.

The ‘Other ethnic group’ category saw an increase of 22,400 people. This category also contains a wide range of write-in responses. No single group accounted for more than 10% of write-in responses in this category.

We will publish more information on write-in responses later in 2024.

The ‘Polish’ category saw an increase of 29,500 people. 'City' council areas were amongst those with the highest representation of people with a Polish ethnic background. Aberdeen City (4.4%) had the highest percentage, followed by City of Edinburgh (3.2%). However the Polish ethnic group is more spread out across Scotland than most other minority ethnic groups. More than half of people with a Polish background live outside of the four 'City' council areas (54.2%).