Ethnic minorities: key points

• Since April 2012, information on ethnic group at the time of death registration (see Christie, 2012) has been collected to contribute to the Scottish health data on ethnicity. This was introduced in response to the recommendations of the Health in our multi-ethnic Scotland  report in 2009. 
• Scotland has a number of White ethnic minority groups, including those of English, Irish and Eastern European origins. However, this section focuses on the non-White minority groups, which formed 7.1% of the Scottish population in the 2022 Census. This total does not include gypsy travellers, refugees, asylum seekers or migrant workers. 
• Minority ethnic groups are younger than the general population.
• The largest non-White minority ethnic group in Scotland is Pakistani.
• The largest non-White populations in Scotland are in Glasgow City, City of Edinburgh, Aberdeen City, East Renfrewshire and Dundee City.
• There is a clear policy commitment in Scotland to address discrimination against minority ethnic groups and inequalities in health.
• There is some data available on the wider determinants of health for ethnic minorities in Scotland, including employment, poverty, housing, discrimination, and school-leaver destinations.
• Initiatives to improve the routine collection and analysis of data on ethnicity have been partially successful. The completeness and quality of the ethnicity coding is now sufficient to allow publication and wider use of the data. These improvements should enhance our understanding of ethnic inequalities in health and support action to reduce them.
• Minority ethnic groups in general have similar or lower mortality than the general population, but may have specific health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes among South Asians.
• In May 2023, Public Health Scotland published a second annual report compiling the data and evidence on ethnic minority populations in Scotland.