Ethnic minorities: key data sources
Information about the health of minority ethnic groups in Scotland is limited, particularly from routine health service sources. The following indicate some potential sources of information.
COVID-19
In June 2020, the Scottish Government established an Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity. Public Health Scotland published data on the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority populations in March 2022.
Hospital discharge and outpatient data
For Scotland as a whole, the recording of ethnicity is improving: a valid ethnic group code was recorded in 84.5% of inpatient and day case records (SMR01) and 76.6% of new outpatient appointment records (SMR00) in the quarter ending 31st December 2022.
Census information
The 2022 census provides a range of tabulations by ethnicity. See the population composition page in our ethnicity data section and Scotland’s Census for more details.
Which ethnic groups have the poorest health? (Hunter 2015) showed Gypsy travellers and Pakistani people had the worst self-assessed health. Older females (age 65+ years) had worse health than older males in almost all ethnic groups. except for 'Caribbean or Black', 'White: Polish', 'Other Asian' and 'White: Gypsy/Traveller'. The largest differences were for 'Indian', 'Bangladeshi' 'Pakistani' and 'Other Ethnic Group', where older women's health was much worse than older men's.
Survey data
A number of periodic or ongoing surveys with national coverage have the potential to provide information about the health of minority ethnic groups. However, in many cases the numbers of people from minority ethnic groups included in the survey are too small to produce reliable information.
Specialist databases
Ethnic group is recorded in some specialised databases, but not all use standardised definitions of ethnic group.
Data standards
Classifications of ethnic group use the new ethnicity classification introduced for official statistics in Scotland.
As described in our Policy page on ethnic minorities the Scottish Migrant and Ethnic Health Research Strategy group (SMEHRS) provides an overview of Scottish research and a set of research priorities in this area.
The Centre for Population Health Science at the University of Edinburgh plays a leading role in Scottish research on ethnicity and health, and publications, including those produced through the Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study (SHELS). Further phases of work have extended the topics covered to cancer, mental health, the health of women and children, primary care consultations, infectious diseases, respiratory infections, cancer screening, Work on all-cause hospitalisations and mortality is progressing.
At the University of Glasgow, the Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) has developed a range of ongoing research projects.
Diabetes
The 2023 Scottish Diabetes Survey provides estimates of diabetes for those people for whom ethnicity data is recorded. (Note that data on ethnicity is not available for a fifth of people with diabetes).
By registering (for free) on the Diabetes UK website access to a number of useful papers can be gained, for example Shahid S (2013) This suggests that clinicians should use a clinical CVD risk calculator which incorporates ethnicity and diabetes as variables.
Wider determinants of health
There is a range of reports and routine datasets looking at the wider determinants of health for ethnic minorities.
Employment: The Scottish Government has published labour market data, based on the Annual Population Survey, comparing the white and non-white population in Scotland. Latest data is for 2021.
Job control: Williams et al. (2023) found Black and Minority Ethnic Groups generally had lower levels of job control compared to White British people.
Secondary school-leaver destinations: Detailed breakdowns on the destinations of school-leavers from Scottish schools, by ethnicity, are published by the Scottish Government.
Poverty: The Scottish Government has published an equality analysis of poverty rates in Scotland, including by ethnicity.
Housing: In 2021, the Scottish Government published a review of the housing needs of minority ethnic groups in Scotland.
Discrimination and harassment: The Scottish Household Survey reports on experience of discrimination and harassment, including by ethnicity.
Comparative data for England and Wales
The King’s Fund published an explainer on the health of ethnic minority groups in England in May 2023
Mental health among ethnic minorities in England was covered in the EMPIRIC report (2002) see EMPIRIC: Ethnic Minority Psychiatric Illness Rates in the Community report.
