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This dictionary is intended to help you understand some of the statistical terms and phrases used on our website. If there is any phrases are not explained in this guide, which you would like to see included or if you have any suggestions to improve the guide please contact statistics customer services using our contact form.
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This term is used in many statistical publications to collectively describe the geographical areas of Council (local authority) and NHS Board areas.
A measure specific to an age group. Rates for each age or age group are commonly calculated for fertility, mortality, marriage and divorce because rates vary greatly through a person's lifetime.
Age-specific rates may be expressed in terms of a five-year age group (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29 years, etc), single-year of age, or other categories relevant to the particular measure, such as school age, working age etc..
Age-specific rates should always be considered alongside average measures for a population, especially if two populations with different age structures are being compared (see also standardisation for age, adjusting for age structure differences).
Refers to the proportion of the population who are in each age group or key life cycle stage. The age structure of the population largely reflects past patterns of fertility and migration.
This refers to the Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends which is laid before the Scottish Parliament and published, usually at the end of July each year.
The people alive who were born within the same year or other specified period. The size of a birth cohort is related to the number of women in the main reproductive age groups who give birth in that year but is modified over time by migration and mortality.
A Census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population. A Census is held every 10 years in both Scotland and the other countries of the UK. It can be contrasted with sampling in which information is only obtained from a subset of a population.
Civil partnership is a legal status similar to marriage but for two people of the same sex. It allows same sex couples to get legal recognition of their relationship.
A group of people sharing a common demographic experience.The most common cohort is a group of people born in the same year (birth cohort), but there are numerous other examples, such as those who, in the same period of time, married (marriage cohorts), or migrated (migration cohorts).
A Communal Establishment is defined as an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. Managed means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation.
In most cases (for example, prisons, large hospitals, hotels) communal establishments can be easily identified. However, difficulties can arise with small hotels, guesthouses and sheltered accommodation. Special rules apply in these cases:
Small hotels and guesthouses are treated as communal establishments if they have the capacity to have 10 or more guests, excluding the owner/manager and his/her family.
Sheltered housing is treated as a communal establishment if less than half the residents possess their own facilities for cooking. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) the whole establishment is treated as separate households.
The Community Health Index (CHI) is a database in wide use throughout the NHS in Scotland. It contains data on patient demographics and some clinical information on aspects of healthcare screening and surveillance. The CHI number is, effectively, an NHS number and its use as a patient identifier makes it increasingly important to the implementation of “ehealth” (electronic health records (EHR) and other information and communication technologies (ICT) being introduced to healthcare in Scotland).
Scotland is divided into 6,505 data zones which are the main geography used for small area statistics. They were created in 2004 by combining 2001 Census output areas, as a way to monitor and develop policy at small area level. Each data zone has approximately the same population (750) but because population based, can vary greatly in size. The largest data zone in Scotland is 1,159 square kilometres and the smallest is 12,367 square metres.
The characteristics of a human population such as sex, age, marital status, ethnic group, religion and a place of residence.
A change in the makeup of the population over a period of time. For example, a shift from high fertility to low fertility rates or from high mortality to low mortality rates.
Dependency ratios provide simple summary measures of age composition, with respect to relative numbers of people in "dependent" and "productive" groups.
The ratios are typically based on a division of the age range into three broad, somewhat crude groupings: children (0-5), working ages (15-59/64), and older people (60/65+ years). Varying these ranges can affect the ratios significantly.
Common dependency ratios used to measure support needs of a population include:
The number of people who are eligible to vote in General Elections, Scottish Parliament Elections, Local Government Elections and European Parliament Elections.
This is a Census term which refers to a person or household being "counted" in the Census.
There is no concise definition of what ethnicity is. Research shows that ethnicity means different things to different people which can include, amongst others, sharing some or all of the following characteristics:
Ethnicity is self perceived, multi-faceted, often subjective and does not lend itself to a standard definition which fits everyone. Ethnicity is synonymous with neither ancestry or race. People can identify with an ethnicity even though they may not be descended from ancestors with that ethnicity.
There are many measures of fertility referring to the level of reproduction of a population, based on the number of live births that occur, have occurred or are expected to occur.
When dealing with births data, fertility is normally measured in terms of women of childbearing age. "Childbearing age" is usually defined as being between the ages of 15 and 44. Using a specified age range avoids misleading information although a small number of births to women outside this age range can and do occur.
This normally refers to the area(s) for which statistics are produced. Some common geographies include local authority area and NHS Board area.
A postcode is ‘High Density’ if either of the following is true:
The High Level Summary of Statistics gives a brief overview of key statistics.
A ‘household’ refers to people living together in a dwelling. The number of households will generally be smaller than the number of dwellings, as some dwellings are vacant, or second homes.
Estimate of the number of households in an area at a particular time, normally 30 June. Household estimates (and projections) are key inputs to policy analysis and service planning. The number of households is generally less than the number of dwellings as some dwellings are either vacant or are used as second homes, although some dwellings contain more than one household.
Estimate of the future number and type of households in the population. Projections are based on past trends and are not, therefore, policy-based forecasts of what the Government expects to happen.
Number of deaths in the four month period from 1 December to 31 March minus the average of deaths in the four months to the preceding 30 November and the four months to the following 31 July.
e.g Increased Winter Mortality for 2006/07
= deaths in the period 1 December 2006 to 31 March 2007 - (Deaths in the period 1 August 2006 to 30 November + Deaths in the period 1 April 2007 to 31 July 2007)/2
Infant deaths refer to all deaths in the first year of life.
Page last updated: 14 May 2009
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