Ethnic minorities: data introduction
Information on the health of ethnic minority groups in Scotland remains incomplete. Since the start of 2012, the ethnicity of the deceased person has been collected, on a voluntary basis, when a death is registered in Scotland. The data is still not of sufficient quality to be used to examine mortality for most ethnic groups, and must be used with caution.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2021) argue that data quality on ethnic minorities in Scotland needs to be improved. They also highlight the high levels of poverty and labour market disadvantage faced by ethnic minorities in Scotland.
As part of the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities, Safia Mirza and Warwick (2022) summarised inequalities across ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom. They found: “very different patterns of inequality across (and within) minority groups, generations, and outcomes.”
Table 1 shows the dimensions and geographies for which ethnicity data are presented, either within the data pages which follow or through hyperlinks.
Table 1: Data availability for Scotland
| Data dimensions/geographies | Data presented? (Y=yes; N=no) |
|---|---|
| By gender | Y |
| By age group | Y |
| By deprivation group | N |
| By NHS board area | Y |
| By local authority area | Y |
| By community health partnership (CHP) area | Y |
| Time trend | N |
| National target | N |
| Comparison with UK/GB | Y |
| International comparison | N |
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.
