Ethnic minorities: self-assessed health from recent Censuses

The 2001 Census in Scotland asked respondents to describe their health in the previous twelve months and to say whether or not they had a limiting long-term illness. Self-assessed health was described simply in three categories as "good", "fairly good" or "not good". No questions were asked about the nature of any limiting long-term illness. Data from these questions are available by ethnic group and by religion. These data should be interpreted with caution as the cross-cultural validity of these questions is not fully understood.

Data by ethnic group

Poorer self-assessed health was more common in older age groups (see Chart 1), but in older age groups levels of self-reported poor health among minority ethnic people were usually higher than the general population.  A similar pattern is seen for limiting long-term illness (to view data click here(46Kb)). Further information is available in the report Analysis of ethnicity in the 2001 Census  and Analysis of Equality results from the 2011 Census produced by the Scottish Government.

Gypsies/Travellers have by some margin the worst overall health among ethnic groups. Their health and wider life circumstances were the subject of an in depth report about them from 2011 census data: Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland - A Comprehensive Analysis of the 2011 Census. The report compared their prevalence of long term health problems and disability and their general health with other ethnic groups.

Allik et al, 2022 examined health and health inequalities by ethnic minority group in Scotland using the 2011 Census. The results show that the White Scottish population tend to have worse health and higher socioeconomic inequalities in health than many other ethnic groups, while White Polish and Chinese people tend to have better health and low socioeconomic inequalities in health. These results are more salient for ages 30-44. The Pakistani population has high rates of poor health similar to the White Scottish for ages 15-44, but at ages 45 and above Pakistani people have the highest rates of poor self-rated health. Compared to other ethnicities, Pakistani people are also more likely to experience poor health in the least deprived areas, particularly at ages 45 and above.

Religion is an important dimension of ethnicity and majorities in many ethnic groups identify strongly with particular religious traditions as data on ethnicity by religious group from the 2011 census show (to view data click here (49Kb)). To view Scottish data from the 2001 Census on self-assessed health by religion click here (17Kb). Muslim and Sikh women were more likely than women in other groups to report poor health, though the number of respondents in older age groups was small and the figures in these groups should be interpreted cautiously. Muslim, Roman Catholic and Sikh men were more likely than men from the general population to report poor health. More information on health and religion in the Census is contained in the report Analysis of religion in the 2001 Census and Analysis of Equality results from the 2011 Census published by the Scottish Government.