Census facts:
The new faces of Scotland - Population
In 2001, 1 in 50 Scots were from an ethnic minority background. On Scotland’s islands, the figure was 1 in 150. However, the islands’ ethnic minority population was almost 60 per cent higher in 2001 than in 1991.
*From Scotland’s Census 2001.
Stubbing out cancer - Health
Smoking was Scotland’s biggest cause of premature death in 2004 representing a quarter of all deaths (24per cent). In March 2006, Scotland bans smoking in public places in a move described as ‘the most significant piece of health care legislation in a generation’.
* Scotland’s Census doesn’t ask if you smoke – or have given up.
Religion and the census - Culture
The 2001 Census was the first census to ask people to volunteer their religion. It found:
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- Church of Scotland – 2,146,251
- Roman Catholic – 803,732
- Other Christian – 344,562
- Buddhist – 6,830
- Hindu – 5,564
- Jewish – 6,448
- Muslim – 42,557
- Sikh – 6,572
- Other – 26,974
- Not answered – 278,061
*From Scotland’s Census 1991.
Contemporary historical facts:
December 2000 – Inverness is granted city status by the Queen, in celebration of the millennium.
11 September 2001 – A series of coordinated terrorist attacks in the United States result in the collapse of the ‘twin towers’ of the World Trade Center, and thousands of deaths.
26 December 2004 – The Boxing Day Asian tsunami is one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, killing more than 225,000 people in 11 countries and prompting a widespread humanitarian response.
5 December 2005 – The Civil Partnership Act 2004 comes into force, allowing same-sex couples to have for the first time identical rights and responsibilities to civil marriages. The 2011 Census will ask about civil partnerships for the first time.