Scots losing their religion

Fewer people said they belonged to a religion

One in 10 people living in Scotland have turned their back on religion, according to the latest census.

Key results from the 2001 study also showed a significant increase in the size of Scotland's ethnic minorities - and a rise in the number of English-born people living north of the border.

The detailed figures were unveiled by John Randall, the Registrar General for Scotland, on Thursday.

It's much more difficult than in the past to sum up Scotland and say you have got an average person

John Randall
Registrar General

The 2001 census was the first to feature questions on religious beliefs.

"One can see a shift over the course of a person's life time towards no religion and away from each of the Christian groupings," said Mr Randall.

More than 42% of the Scottish population said they belonged to the Church of Scotland, while 15.9% said they were Roman Catholic.

However, 27.5% said that they had no current religion - compared to the 17.5% who said they had no religion at birth.

The figures pointed towards an ageing population north of the border.

Married couple

On census day 36% of the country's 5,062,011 residents were under the age of 30, compared with 41% in 1991.

"Generally there's been a move away from what you might call the old, conventional type of married couple with two children," said Mr Randall.

"It's much more difficult than in the past to sum up Scotland and say you have got an average person."

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The proportion of married people fell by 4% to 54%, while the number of divorcees rose by 2% to 7%.

The number of people in the average household fell from 2.44 in 1991 to 2.27 in 2001.

The proportion of families containing married couples fell from more than 50% to 42.5%, while families of cohabiting couples doubled to 6.9% and lone parents rose to 9.6%.

Ethnic minorities accounted for 2% of the Scottish population in 2001, an increase from 1.3% a decade earlier.

The largest groups were Pakistani, Chinese and Indian.

Home owners

People born in England accounted for 8% of the Scottish population, an increase of 1% on the previous census.

In all, 13% of the population were born outwith Scotland.

The number of people who owned their own homes rose from 52% to 63%, but rates varied across the country.

Less than half the people in Glasgow were owner-occupiers, compared to more than 80% in East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire.

The highest proportions of people who described their health over the 12 months before the survey as "not good" came from the social rented sector and in households living rent free.

The number of Gaelic speakers has fallen

The number of people who indicated that they had a long-term illness rose by 6% to 20%.

The number of men in full-time employment fell from 55% to 51% during the decade.

Glasgow recorded the highest unemployment rate of 10%, with Shetland's figure of 3% the lowest.

A third of the population aged between 16 and 74 said they had no qualifications.

The number of Gaelic speakers over the age of three fell by more than 7,000 to 58,652.

However, more than 92,000 said they could speak, read, write or understand the language.