Scotland’s Census 2022 - UK Armed Forces veterans
An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland
Published: 13 June 2024
This report presents census data on UK Armed Forces veterans for the first time. Key findings include the age profile of veterans and how the veteran population is spread across Scotland.
Census data will help government, charities and other service providers to understand more about the needs of UK Armed Forces veterans, and their families.
“Scotland’s Census found that 176,100 people had previously served in the UK Armed Forces, 3.9% of people aged 16 and over.”
Jon Wroth-Smith, Director of Census Statistics, National Records of Scotland
Scotland’s Census found that 176,100 people had previously served in the UK Armed Forces. This is 3.9% of people aged 16 and over.
The census in England and Wales asked the same question in 2021. A similar percentage (3.8%) said they had served in the UK Armed Forces.
Half of all veterans (50.4%) were aged 65 and over. And just under one third (30.6%) were aged 50 to 64.
People in younger age groups are less likely to be Armed Forces veterans. Statistics from the Ministry of Defence show that in the 12 months ending 30 September 2022 the average age people joined the regular Armed Forces was around 20 and the average age they left was around 31 (Tables 9 and 25, UK armed forces biannual diversity statistics: index).
“Half of all veterans were aged 65 and over, and just under one third were aged 50 to 64.”
Jon Wroth-Smith, Director of Census Statistics, National Records of Scotland
We can also look at the percentage of the population who were veterans in each age group. The percentage of veterans increases as we go from younger to older age groups.
This reflects how the percentage of the population serving in the Armed Forces has varied over the last 90+ years. The high percentage of veterans in the oldest groups is explained by the National Service policy in place between 1939 to 1960 and War Service (to 1948).
Around one in five people aged 85 and over had previously served in the UK Armed Forces. If we look specifically at males, we see that over half of all males aged 85 and over had previously served.
The majority of veterans in Scotland were male (88%). The census recorded 20,600 female veterans in total across Scotland.
The council areas with the highest percentage of veterans in their population were mostly areas that contain or are close to military bases:
- Moray (9.0% of population aged 16 and over)
- Angus (6.1%)
- Argyll and Bute (5.9%)
- Fife (5.6%)
- Perth and Kinross (5.4%)
- Highland (5.3%)
The six council areas listed above are home to around one third (29.4%) of Armed Forces veterans in Scotland. For comparison, these areas account for around one fifth (19.3%) of Scotland’s overall population.
This shows that some UK Armed Forces veterans stay in these areas after they have left service. But the veteran population was generally spread across Scotland.