Wealth in Scotland 2006-2020
A Scottish Government Official Statistics publication
Published on 18 February 2022
Personal wealth is a key component of people’s standard of living. People use their wealth for a range of purposes, for example:
- as a source of finance to improve current or future living standards
- to invest in opportunities such as education or entrepreneurial activities
- to provide a buffer for emergencies such as unemployment or illness.
Many people will build wealth throughout their working lives in preparation for retirement. Yet, households with low income and low starting wealth will find this more difficult.
This report shows how wealthy Scottish households are. It also shows which kinds of households are a lot wealthier than others. And it shows which kinds of households have little savings for emergencies, or even unmanageable debt.
The latest data for this report is from April 2018 to March 2020. This was before the first UK-wide lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. So these statistics do not yet tell us anything about the impact of the pandemic on wealth and debt.
Key points
According to the latest data from just before the pandemic, a typical household in Scotland had £214,000 in total wealth, similar to previous years. A typical household in the wealthiest 10% of households had £1.7 million in total wealth, whereas a typical household in the least wealthy 10% of households had £7,600. The least wealthy households rarely own property or have any private pension savings. Their wealth is mainly made up of the value of their possessions such as cars, furniture and clothing.
Wealth inequality was more severe than income inequality: the 2% of households with the highest incomes had 9% of all income, while the wealthiest 2% of households had 18% of all wealth.
Households that tend to be wealthier than others are higher income households, pensioner couples, and home owners. In contrast, households with below average wealth tend to be low income households, lone parent and single working-age adult households, and those who lived in rented housing.
Three out of ten households had insufficient savings to keep them above the poverty line for a month should they lose their income. Four per cent of households were in unmanageable debt. A third of households did not own any property, and a third of adults had no private pension savings.
What you need to know
Household wealth
Household wealth (total wealth) is made up of physical wealth, financial wealth, property wealth and pension wealth of all household members. In short, physical wealth is the value of your belongings, financial wealth is savings, investments, and debt, property wealth is the self-reported value of your owned home and other property, and pension wealth is an estimate of the value of your private pensions, such as occupational and personal pensions.
We adjusted all wealth estimates for inflation.
Survey data
The analysis in this report is based on data from the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS). This survey measures the economic well-being of households in Great Britain. WAS is managed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
WAS is a sample survey and any numbers shown here are estimates only and could be slightly higher or lower if we interviewed a different sample of the population. Therefore, small changes over time, or differences between groups may not be real in the population. Differences or trends are more likely to be real if they are consistent over time.
The survey has a large sample size and almost complete coverage of Great Britain. The sample of private households in Scotland however excludes households north of the Caledonian Canal and the Scottish islands. Any estimates may therefore not necessarily be representative of households in these areas.
We do not produce estimates of numbers of people or households in Scotland, who, for example, own a home. Instead, we provide likelihoods (for example, of owning a home) and average amounts (of property wealth, for example).
Describing trends
Our charts show trends and differences between groups of households or people. Some trends and differences are real. They reflect trends and differences in the general population. Others occur just by chance in this particular survey sample and do not reflect the general population.
We only report on trends that we believe to be real, based on the following criteria:
- a difference between groups is consistent over time
- the groups are based on large sample sizes
- estimates don’t fluctuate too much.
Total wealth
This section gives an overview over how much personal wealth households have, how that has changed over time, what types of wealth there are and how their importance changes over people’s life courses.
Figure 1 shows median household wealth over time. In 2018-2020, a typical household had £214,000 of total wealth. Median wealth had not changed much since 2006-2008, when data collection began.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | £193,100 | £189,000 | £190,000 | £202,900 | £250,700 | £242,700 | £214,000 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Types of wealth
Total household wealth is made up of physical wealth, financial wealth, property wealth and pension wealth of all household members.
Wealth types
Figure 2 shows how much wealth a typical household had in the latest period for each type of wealth. Typical pension wealth was £56,900, property wealth £67,000, physical wealth £38,300, and financial wealth £6,700.
Note that this analysis includes all households, even those that had no property or pension wealth. If we exclude those households, a typical household with (some) property had £125,000 in property wealth, and a typical household with (some) pension wealth had £105,600 in pension wealth in the latest period.
Type | Median |
---|---|
Financial | £6,700 |
Physical | £38,300 |
Property | £67,000 |
Pension | £56,900 |
Type | Sample |
---|---|
Financial | 1,514 |
Physical | 1,514 |
Property | 1,514 |
Pension | 1,514 |
Trends
Figure 3 shows median household wealth trends by type of wealth. Later chapters on pension wealth and property wealth will also show trends, but some estimates will differ for two reasons:
- Figure 3, like Figure 2, includes all households when calculating the median, whether or not they have each type of wealth. The later chapters on property and pension wealth exclude those with no property wealth, or pension wealth.
- In Figure 3, we show household pension wealth. This is the combined pension wealth of all household members. In the pension chapter, we look at individuals' pension wealth.
Type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Financial | £5,700 | £6,800 | £3,900 | £3,800 | £4,700 | £5,700 | £6,700 |
Physical | £35,500 | £32,900 | £38,000 | £38,200 | £39,600 | £41,300 | £38,300 |
Property | £80,000 | £73,200 | £72,500 | £65,400 | £64,200 | £67,600 | £67,000 |
Pension | £31,000 | £33,800 | £38,900 | £49,400 | £75,900 | £73,000 | £56,900 |
Type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Financial | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Physical | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Property | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Pension | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Life stages
It is important to note that wealth amounts vary a lot by age. Younger households are less likely to have much or even any pension or property wealth, and most of their wealth is made up of the value of their belongings (physical wealth).
In general, people start building up wealth once they start receiving a salary, buy some goods, maybe save some money, and pay into a private pension scheme such as a workplace pension. Many buy a home, and through paying off their mortgage they build property wealth. On retirement, pension wealth gets drawn upon and used up, while some people also downsize their homes and reduce their property wealth.
Figure 4 shows how much wealth of each type a typical household had for different age groups. A typical young household (household head aged 16-34) has mostly physical wealth, and no or only little financial, property and pension wealth. While financial and physical wealth differ little for different ages, property and pension wealth differ a lot and make up most of the wealth of households with heads aged 35 and older.
This reflects what happens over people's life time, with many young households who have little wealth today expected to turn into wealthy households in the future as they age and accumulate wealth.
Age | Financial | Physical | Property | Pension | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | £400 | £22,700 | £5,000 | £5,700 | £45,400 |
35-44 | £5,700 | £44,600 | £55,000 | £28,100 | £160,000 |
45-54 | £3,200 | £44,000 | £57,200 | £103,200 | £282,500 |
55-64 | £13,800 | £47,000 | £100,000 | £157,500 | £432,200 |
65-74 | £19,200 | £45,200 | £130,000 | £179,200 | £450,600 |
75+ | £20,000 | £35,000 | £120,000 | £54,500 | £268,000 |
Age | Financial | Physical | Property | Pension | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
35-44 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 |
45-54 | 259 | 259 | 259 | 259 | 259 |
55-64 | 317 | 317 | 317 | 317 | 317 |
65-74 | 357 | 357 | 357 | 357 | 357 |
75+ | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 |
Wealth inequality
This chapter shows how wealth is distributed within the population overall, and between different groups. The first section looks at how much more the wealthiest households have compared to the least wealthy. Using a range of summary measures, we look at how wealth inequality differs for the four different components of total wealth, and how this has changed over the years. The second section compares average wealth across different types of people and households to show which groups typically have more or less wealth than others.
Wealth inequality in Scotland is also monitored within Scotland’s National Performance Framework using the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality.
Within the population
When looking at wealth inequality within the population, we typically use inequality measures such as the Gini coefficient or the Palma ratio. These compare all households by how much wealth they have.
Distribution
Discussion on inequality often focuses on income, but wealth is even more unequally distributed than income.
Figure 5 splits Scotland’s households into fifty equal-sized groups, which are sorted by income and wealth on the horizontal axis, with each bar representing 2% of households. Lower income / less wealthy households are on the left, and richer / wealthier households are on the right. The height of the bars shows each group’s share of total income / wealth.
The 2% top income households in Scotland had 9% of all income, but the wealthiest 2% of all households in Scotland had 18% of all wealth. On the other end, the bottom 2% households had 1% of all income, and practically none of the wealth.
Vigintile (2% band) | Income | Wealth |
---|---|---|
1 | 0.5% | 0.0% |
2 | 0.5% | 0.0% |
3 | 0.7% | 0.0% |
4 | 0.8% | 0.1% |
5 | 0.8% | 0.1% |
6 | 0.9% | 0.1% |
7 | 1.0% | 0.1% |
8 | 1.0% | 0.1% |
9 | 1.0% | 0.1% |
10 | 1.1% | 0.2% |
11 | 1.2% | 0.2% |
12 | 1.2% | 0.2% |
13 | 1.2% | 0.2% |
14 | 1.3% | 0.2% |
15 | 1.3% | 0.3% |
16 | 1.3% | 0.4% |
17 | 1.4% | 0.4% |
18 | 1.4% | 0.4% |
19 | 1.5% | 0.5% |
20 | 1.5% | 0.6% |
21 | 1.6% | 0.6% |
22 | 1.6% | 0.7% |
23 | 1.5% | 0.7% |
24 | 1.8% | 0.8% |
25 | 1.8% | 0.9% |
26 | 1.8% | 1.0% |
27 | 1.8% | 1.1% |
28 | 1.9% | 1.2% |
29 | 1.9% | 1.2% |
30 | 1.9% | 1.4% |
31 | 2.0% | 1.3% |
32 | 2.1% | 1.7% |
33 | 2.1% | 1.7% |
34 | 2.2% | 1.8% |
35 | 2.2% | 2.0% |
36 | 2.3% | 2.2% |
37 | 2.5% | 2.3% |
38 | 2.3% | 2.4% |
39 | 2.5% | 2.7% |
40 | 2.5% | 3.0% |
41 | 2.5% | 3.2% |
42 | 2.9% | 3.7% |
43 | 2.8% | 3.9% |
44 | 2.9% | 4.3% |
45 | 3.0% | 5.1% |
46 | 3.3% | 5.2% |
47 | 3.6% | 6.0% |
48 | 3.8% | 7.5% |
49 | 4.4% | 8.4% |
50 | 8.9% | 17.8% |
Group | Income | Wealth |
---|---|---|
All | 6,239 | 1,514 |
How much wealth?
Figure 6, the wealth distribution, splits all households in Scotland into ten equal-sized groups (called deciles), sorted by household wealth, from the least wealthy on the left, to the wealthiest on the right. The chart shows the wealth of a typical household in each decile group, or the decile medians.
A typical household in the top decile of the household population had £1.7 million, whereas a typical household in the bottom decile had £7,600 in total wealth.
Note that the least wealthy households are unlikely to own property or have any pension savings. Most of their wealth is also not cash or savings, but rather physical wealth, the value of possessions such as clothing or furniture.
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | £7,600 | £25,600 | £51,000 | £105,600 | £170,400 | £269,500 | £386,300 | £584,800 | £923,400 | £1,651,700 |
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | 47 | 48 | 47 | 50 | 46 | 53 | 56 | 60 | 59 | 61 |
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | 100 | 96 | 108 | 123 | 121 | 153 | 172 | 186 | 204 | 251 |
Trends
Figure 7 shows how median household wealth in each wealth decile changed over time. Median wealth had increased in all wealth deciles since 2006-2008, when data collection began. However, wealth in the middle wealth decile had increased only very little.
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | £3,500 | £4,100 | £6,000 | £7,200 | £8,100 | £7,800 | £7,600 |
2 | £18,900 | £18,900 | £21,200 | £19,900 | £27,400 | £29,700 | £25,600 |
3 | £46,200 | £48,900 | £48,200 | £50,900 | £59,200 | £64,700 | £51,000 |
4 | £93,700 | £95,000 | £103,000 | £104,500 | £118,000 | £120,500 | £105,600 |
5 | £164,700 | £160,600 | £154,600 | £164,200 | £197,900 | £193,300 | £170,400 |
6 | £228,800 | £223,300 | £226,800 | £249,600 | £294,700 | £297,000 | £269,500 |
7 | £332,800 | £309,200 | £332,700 | £368,600 | £412,800 | £431,300 | £386,300 |
8 | £461,800 | £443,300 | £470,300 | £513,000 | £588,500 | £628,200 | £584,800 |
9 | £641,900 | £644,200 | £663,800 | £783,600 | £882,700 | £961,300 | £923,400 |
10 | £1,250,500 | £1,238,600 | £1,239,200 | £1,488,800 | £1,538,900 | £1,712,000 | £1,651,700 |
All | £193,100 | £189,000 | £190,000 | £202,900 | £250,700 | £242,700 | £214,000 |
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 42 | 41 | 41 | 44 | 50 | 42 | 47 |
2 | 43 | 44 | 47 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 48 |
3 | 47 | 44 | 47 | 49 | 50 | 44 | 47 |
4 | 45 | 42 | 42 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 |
5 | 51 | 49 | 48 | 53 | 52 | 48 | 46 |
6 | 51 | 49 | 54 | 58 | 54 | 50 | 53 |
7 | 57 | 53 | 58 | 54 | 54 | 56 | 56 |
8 | 53 | 56 | 54 | 56 | 57 | 57 | 60 |
9 | 56 | 55 | 59 | 62 | 62 | 59 | 59 |
10 | 57 | 60 | 60 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 |
All | 51 | 51 | 53 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 148 | 165 | 189 | 144 | 133 | 122 | 100 |
2 | 147 | 149 | 164 | 135 | 134 | 131 | 96 |
3 | 149 | 160 | 174 | 168 | 137 | 115 | 108 |
4 | 150 | 173 | 160 | 164 | 151 | 132 | 123 |
5 | 150 | 189 | 186 | 172 | 166 | 152 | 121 |
6 | 151 | 201 | 215 | 199 | 161 | 150 | 153 |
7 | 160 | 212 | 217 | 197 | 166 | 177 | 172 |
8 | 161 | 216 | 219 | 213 | 197 | 186 | 186 |
9 | 167 | 233 | 240 | 238 | 202 | 198 | 204 |
10 | 216 | 297 | 305 | 260 | 249 | 244 | 251 |
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Life stages
Note again that people's wealth generally increases over their lifetime. Figure 8 shows the age breakdown of each wealth decile. Younger households are more often found in the lower wealth deciles, whereas middle-aged and older households are often found in the higher wealth deciles.
Age | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 25% | 30% | 34% | 19% | 24% | 6% | 5% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
35-44 | 20% | 16% | 14% | 24% | 26% | 27% | 18% | 11% | 10% | 3% |
45-54 | 21% | 21% | 20% | 12% | 12% | 20% | 24% | 24% | 25% | 21% |
55-64 | 14% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 15% | 11% | 20% | 24% | 28% | 36% |
65-74 | 11% | 9% | 8% | 19% | 12% | 10% | 15% | 22% | 25% | 32% |
75+ | 10% | 11% | 14% | 12% | 11% | 26% | 18% | 17% | 11% | 9% |
Group | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 100 | 96 | 108 | 123 | 121 | 153 | 172 | 186 | 204 | 251 |
Inequality trends
Summary measures of wealth inequality are useful for tracking change over time. In this section, we use a range of summary measures to describe different features of the wealth distribution:
- The Gini coefficient of inequality is widely used, and it is based on the whole distribution. But it is sometimes considered overly sensitive to changes in the middle, and not sensitive enough to changes at the top and the bottom.
- The Palma ratio focuses on the top and the bottom of the distribution only. In practice, both Gini and Palma measures show very similar trends.
- Wealth shares give a more nuanced picture of the different parts of the distribution, but they cannot be summarised with a single estimate.
- The absolute wealth gap shows the wealth difference between the wealthiest and the least wealthy in absolute terms.
The Gini and Palma measures appear to show a recent small rise in wealth inequality after a previous decline. But these changes are small compared to the measurement uncertainty. They may therefore be due to random variation in the survey samples drawn in each period and may not reflect trends in the overall population. In a similar way, the wealth share measures show some patterns that are too weak to describe a clear trend. However, the absolute wealth gap between the least wealthy and the wealthiest is increasing, making it ever more difficult to attain high wealth compared to the rest of society.
Gini
Figure 9 shows how the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality changed over time. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0% to 100%. 0% means all households have the same wealth, and 100% means one household has all the wealth and all other households have none.
The Gini coefficient of total wealth was 64% in 2018-2020. It had been broadly stable since 2006-2008, when data collection began, ranging between 61% and 65%.
Measure | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gini | 65% | 63% | 61% | 62% | 60% | 62% | 64% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Palma
Figure 10 shows how the Palma ratio of wealth inequality changed over time. The Palma ratio divides the combined wealth of the 10% wealthiest households by the combined wealth of the 40% least wealthy households.
The Palma ratio of total wealth was 10.8 in 2018-2020. It had been broadly stable since 2006-2008, when data collection began, ranging between 8.8 and 11.6.
Measure | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Palma | 11.6 | 10.1 | 8.8 | 9.7 | 8.5 | 9.1 | 10.8 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Gap
Figure 12 shows the absolute gap between median wealth of the wealthiest 10% and the least wealthy 40%, and how this changed over time. This gap shows how much more wealth a typical household in the bottom 40% would need to build in order to move into the top 10% of the distribution.
In 2018-2020, a typical household in the wealthiest 10% had £1.6 million more wealth than a typical household in the least wealthy 40%. This had steadily increased from £1.2 million in 2006-2008.
Measure | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wealth gap | £1,221,200 | £1,208,900 | £1,206,000 | £1,457,800 | £1,498,400 | £1,665,700 | £1,614,900 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Types of wealth
Here, we use the Gini coefficient for comparing inequality across different types of wealth.
While the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality for total wealth overall was 64%, there are differences for different types of wealth. Figure 13 shows the Gini coefficient for each of the four components of personal wealth.
Inequality was highest for financial wealth (86%), followed by pension wealth (75%) and property wealth (65%), and lowest for physical wealth (45%). For context, wealth inequality for all types of wealth was higher than income inequality: the Gini coefficient of income inequality (before housing costs) in Scotland was 32% in 2017-20, see Poverty in Scotland report.
Note that the Gini coefficient as calculated here includes all households, whether or not they have each type of wealth.
Type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Financial | 90% | 88% | 92% | 89% | 88% | 88% | 86% |
Pension | 79% | 77% | 74% | 74% | 71% | 71% | 75% |
Property | 65% | 64% | 64% | 65% | 65% | 66% | 65% |
Physical | 47% | 48% | 45% | 48% | 45% | 46% | 45% |
Total | 65% | 63% | 61% | 62% | 60% | 62% | 64% |
Type | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Financial | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Pension | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Property | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Physical | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Total | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Between groups
Some people are more likely to be wealthy than others - for example, most adults nearing retirement have accumulated a considerable amount of wealth over their working lives, and are getting ready to use it up, whereas many younger adults are only starting to save.
While this growth of wealth over time and with age is very common, some groups of the population are excluded from it. They may not have any income to spare for saving up, or they cannot afford to get on the property ladder, or they are not enrolled in any private pension scheme.
This section compares average wealth across different types of people and households to show which groups typically have more or less wealth than others. For context, we also provide age information, as age often explains at least part of the difference between groups.
We also include time series to show whether differences between groups are consistent over time. Where this is the case, we can be more confident that differences are real in the whole population and not just in this particular sample. Note that any drastic changes from one period to the next are likely due to random variation, and do not reflect real change in the population.
The ONS report on individual wealth looks in more detail at wealth by a range of (interacting) characteristics.
Individual characteristics
Some of the breakdowns below may not be based on the full Scottish sample. This is because we excluded a small number of individuals where the breakdown characteristic was unknown.
We created an individual wealth measure to show average wealth differences for individuals with different characteristics. In this measure, any commonly owned wealth is split out among the household members, see the individual wealth definition for more details. Individual wealth estimates are available from 2010-2012.
Age, economic status, and (formal) qualification are the most important characteristics linked to wealth differences between individuals. Of these, age is key, as people build wealth over their lifetimes.
Other individual characteristics show smaller, less obvious, or no wealth differences. They are included here to demonstrate which characteristics influence wealth less, or less clearly. While we tried to include all protected characteristics, data on gender reassignment and trans status is not available.
A typical adult had £100,900 of total wealth in 2018-2020.
Age
Figure 14 shows median wealth by age.
The youngest people were the least wealthy, and those recently retired, or about to retire, the wealthiest. For example, a typical person in the 65-74 year-old group had £268,700 in total wealth in 2018-2020, whereas a typical 16-34 year-old had only £23,200.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0-15 | £300 | £300 | £400 | £500 | £500 |
16-34 | £20,100 | £18,700 | £22,200 | £20,300 | £23,200 |
35-44 | £77,200 | £78,800 | £86,800 | £88,400 | £102,700 |
45-54 | £164,000 | £176,900 | £153,800 | £156,000 | £140,300 |
55-64 | £207,800 | £241,400 | £280,300 | £274,700 | £249,300 |
65-74 | £163,500 | £197,700 | £232,800 | £270,400 | £268,700 |
75+ | £124,600 | £140,300 | £148,100 | £178,200 | £183,000 |
All | £49,700 | £52,200 | £60,900 | £59,400 | £56,200 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0-15 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
16-34 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 26 |
35-44 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 39 |
45-54 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
55-64 | 60 | 60 | 59 | 59 | 59 |
65-74 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 |
75+ | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
All | 42 | 43 | 45 | 42 | 43 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0-15 | 733 | 617 | 514 | 476 | 423 |
16-34 | 848 | 674 | 582 | 576 | 475 |
35-44 | 559 | 440 | 379 | 375 | 298 |
45-54 | 667 | 602 | 551 | 507 | 441 |
55-64 | 711 | 645 | 562 | 556 | 509 |
65-74 | 612 | 643 | 594 | 541 | 574 |
75+ | 410 | 436 | 424 | 405 | 405 |
All | 4,540 | 4,057 | 3,606 | 3,436 | 3,125 |
Employment
Figure 15 shows median wealth by economic status.
Retired adults were the wealthiest, while other inactive and unemployed adults were the least wealthy. In 2018-2020, a typical retiree had £249,800 in total wealth, compared to employed or self-employed adults, who had £95,300 and £105,700, respectively, which was a lot more than what inactive (but not retired) and unemployed adults had (inactive - other £22,700, inactive - student £21,400, inactive - disabled £18,100, and unemployed £13,500).
Economic status data was available from 2014-2016.
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Retired | £190,400 | £259,100 | £249,800 |
Self-employed | £109,400 | £119,600 | £105,700 |
Employed | £105,300 | £98,800 | £95,300 |
Inactive - other | £24,100 | £18,000 | £22,700 |
Inactive - student | £19,000 | £15,000 | £21,400 |
Inactive - disabled | £15,800 | £15,600 | £18,100 |
Unemployed | £12,500 | £13,300 | £13,500 |
All | £103,700 | £106,800 | £101,200 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Retired | 72 | 72 | 72 |
Self-employed | 48 | 48 | 50 |
Employed | 43 | 41 | 41 |
Inactive - other | 40 | 42 | 44 |
Inactive - student | 20 | 20 | 22 |
Inactive - disabled | 52 | 51 | 52 |
Unemployed | 39 | 31 | 28 |
All | 50 | 49 | 50 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Retired | 1,074 | 997 | 977 |
Self-employed | 185 | 206 | 191 |
Employed | 1,347 | 1,282 | 1,147 |
Inactive - other | 144 | 143 | 119 |
Inactive - student | 68 | 45 | 45 |
Inactive - disabled | 142 | 142 | 131 |
Unemployed | 55 | 60 | 43 |
All | 3,015 | 2,875 | 2,653 |
Education
Figure 16 shows median wealth by formal qualification.
Highly qualified adults were wealthier than adults with qualifications below degree-level or with no formal qualification at all. In 2018-2020, a typical adult with a degree-level or higher qualification had £207,100 in total wealth, compared to £76,900 for adults with another type of qualification, and £36,000 for adults with no formal qualification.
Table 16b shows that a typical adult with no formal qualification was in their early sixties, an age group where adults tend to be the wealthiest in their lives, and yet these non-qualified adults are not very wealthy. This underlines how important education and having formal qualifications were for being able to build wealth.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Degree-level or above | £147,100 | £214,100 | £243,700 | £209,600 | £207,100 |
Other qualification | £86,500 | £85,100 | £93,600 | £96,300 | £76,900 |
No qualification | £65,800 | £44,200 | £45,900 | £34,100 | £36,000 |
All | £83,900 | £96,100 | £106,400 | £109,600 | £102,000 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Degree-level or above | 39 | 46 | 45 | 43 | 44 |
Other qualification | 46 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 49 |
No qualification | 61 | 64 | 65 | 61 | 64 |
All | 48 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Degree-level or above | 771 | 811 | 816 | 794 | 861 |
Other qualification | 1,860 | 1,750 | 1,504 | 1,498 | 1,405 |
No qualification | 1,004 | 737 | 652 | 541 | 358 |
All | 3,635 | 3,298 | 2,972 | 2,833 | 2,624 |
Marital
Figure 17 shows median wealth by marital status.
Married and widowed adults were the wealthiest, whereas single (and never married) adults were the least wealthy. Note that we include adults in Civil Partnerships in the 'Married' category, and we include separated married adults and those who dissolved their Civil Partnership in the 'Divorced' category.
In 2018-2020, a typical married adult had £178,700 and a typical widowed adult £175,000 in total wealth. A divorced adult had £107,000, and cohabiting and single adults had £32,500, and £25,100, respectively. The typical single adult was quite young, see table 17b, which can at least partly explain the lower wealth. This is similar for cohabiting adults, who also tended to be slightly younger than married, divorced and widowed adults.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Married | £138,700 | £147,800 | £163,700 | £180,000 | £178,700 |
Widowed | £124,600 | £141,000 | £132,600 | £162,800 | £175,000 |
Divorced | £54,000 | £68,300 | £95,800 | £129,700 | £107,000 |
Cohabiting | £38,200 | £44,600 | £71,500 | £38,200 | £32,500 |
Single | £19,900 | £19,000 | £24,400 | £21,900 | £25,100 |
All | £82,100 | £93,500 | £103,700 | £106,800 | £100,900 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Married | 52 | 54 | 53 | 52 | 53 |
Widowed | 77 | 77 | 77 | 78 | 75 |
Divorced | 54 | 56 | 59 | 59 | 58 |
Cohabiting | 36 | 38 | 41 | 35 | 34 |
Single | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 28 |
All | 47 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Married | 2,108 | 1,905 | 1,686 | 1,600 | 1,500 |
Widowed | 294 | 298 | 250 | 227 | 251 |
Divorced | 299 | 275 | 255 | 254 | 233 |
Cohabiting | 294 | 286 | 254 | 258 | 203 |
Single | 713 | 583 | 570 | 538 | 472 |
All | 3,708 | 3,347 | 3,015 | 2,877 | 2,659 |
Orientation
Only adults who responded to the survey in person were included in the sexual orientation breakdown. No proxy-responses are included. This reduced the sample size.
Figure 18 shows median wealth by sexual orientation.
While in the latest period, straight (or heterosexual) adults had less total wealth than adults who were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other, this had been the opposite in previous periods. In 2018-2020, a typical adult who was gay, lesbian, bisexual or other had £159,300 in total wealth, compared to £126,500 for straight adults.
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Hetero / straight | £118,700 | £136,800 | £126,500 |
Other | £76,300 | £95,400 | £159,300 |
All | £116,800 | £136,000 | £126,800 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Hetero / straight | 52 | 52 | 53 |
Other | 48 | 42 | 47 |
All | 52 | 52 | 53 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Hetero / straight | 2,487 | 2,283 | 2,082 |
Other | 35 | 31 | 42 |
All | 2,522 | 2,314 | 2,124 |
Religion
Only adults who responded to the survey in person were included in the religion breakdown. No proxy-responses are included. This reduced the sample size.
Figure 19 shows median wealth by religion.
Christian adults continued to be wealthier on average than adults with other religions or no religion. In 2018-2020, a typical Christian adult had £154,900 in total wealth, compared to £92,500 for adults with no religion and £59,800 for adults with another religion.
Note that Christian adults were also on average older and nearer their wealth peak around retirement compared to adults with another or no religion, see table 19b.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian | £108,100 | £121,700 | £127,700 | £159,200 | £154,900 |
Other religion | £87,100 | £64,000 | £107,100 | £89,800 | £59,800 |
No religion | £69,700 | £80,900 | £103,000 | £101,500 | £92,500 |
All | £94,600 | £107,700 | £116,900 | £133,500 | £125,200 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian | 54 | 57 | 57 | 59 | 60 |
Other religion | 47 | 52 | 48 | 49 | 52 |
No religion | 42 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 |
All | 50 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian | 1,731 | 1,820 | 1,599 | 1,316 | 1,192 |
Other religion | 36 | 51 | 70 | 90 | 78 |
No religion | 978 | 985 | 910 | 915 | 872 |
All | 2,745 | 2,856 | 2,579 | 2,321 | 2,142 |
Ethnicity
Only adults who responded to the survey in person were included in the ethnicity breakdown. No proxy-responses are included. This reduced the sample size.
Figure 20 shows median wealth by ethnicity.
In order to be able to produce an ethnicity breakdown, we combined all minority ethnic adults, including white ethnic minorities such as EU citizens and gypsy/travellers, into a single group.
Minority ethnic adults were on average less wealthy than white British adults. In 2018-2020, a typical minority ethnic adult had £57,000 in total wealth, compared to £132,700 for a typical white British adult. Note that the minority ethnic adults were also younger on average than white British adults, see table 20b.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
White British | £100,200 | £114,100 | £128,100 | £142,300 | £132,700 |
Minority ethnic | £16,500 | £27,500 | £24,400 | £36,600 | £57,000 |
All | £94,500 | £107,700 | £116,900 | £133,200 | £125,200 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
White British | 51 | 53 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Minority ethnic | 33 | 35 | 35 | 36 | 39 |
All | 50 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
White British | 2,993 | 2,742 | 2,456 | 2,205 | 2,032 |
Minority ethnic | 145 | 115 | 123 | 117 | 110 |
All | 3,138 | 2,857 | 2,579 | 2,322 | 2,142 |
Disability
Figure 21 shows median wealth for disabled adults and adults who were not disabled.
While disabled adults had consistently had lower wealth compared to adults who were not disabled, the difference was small. In 2018-2020, a typical disabled adult had £71,700 in total wealth, compared to £109,800 for adults who were not disabled.
However, disabled adults were on average older and closer to retirement, see table 21b. We would therefore have expected them to be wealthier, and yet they are not. This suggests that disabled adults had been less able to build wealth compared to adults who were not disabled.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not disabled | £83,800 | £99,800 | £113,400 | £109,100 | £109,800 |
Disabled | £72,800 | £71,600 | £75,500 | £98,300 | £71,700 |
All | £82,100 | £93,500 | £103,700 | £106,800 | £100,900 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not disabled | 44 | 47 | 47 | 46 | 46 |
Disabled | 61 | 63 | 63 | 61 | 61 |
All | 47 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not disabled | 2,987 | 2,640 | 2,382 | 2,227 | 2,054 |
Disabled | 721 | 707 | 633 | 650 | 605 |
All | 3,708 | 3,347 | 3,015 | 2,877 | 2,659 |
Sex
Figure 22 shows median wealth for men and women.
Men and women had on average similar wealth. In 2018-2020, a typical man had £97,500 in total wealth, compared to £101,900 for a typical woman.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men | £85,700 | £105,400 | £115,400 | £116,600 | £97,500 |
Women | £80,700 | £83,900 | £93,600 | £102,000 | £101,900 |
All | £82,100 | £93,500 | £103,700 | £106,800 | £100,900 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men | 46 | 49 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Women | 49 | 50 | 51 | 50 | 51 |
All | 47 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men | 1,768 | 1,578 | 1,435 | 1,387 | 1,290 |
Women | 1,940 | 1,769 | 1,580 | 1,490 | 1,369 |
All | 3,708 | 3,347 | 3,015 | 2,877 | 2,659 |
Household characteristics
Some of the breakdowns below may not be based on the full Scottish sample. This is because we excluded a small number of households where the breakdown characteristic was unknown.
In this section, we compare average household wealth by household characteristics. Household wealth is the combined wealth of all household members. We see the biggest differences when comparing households by income, household type, and housing tenure. We also show wealth differences in urban and rural areas. Data on area deprivation was not available.
A typical household had £214,000 of total wealth in 2018-2020.
Income
Figure 23 shows median household wealth by household income quintile (or 20%-band).
The higher the household income, the wealthier the households were. In 2018-2020, a typical household in the top income quintile had £658,400 in total wealth, compared to £432,000, £198,900, and £96,800, in the middle income quintiles, and £84,500 in the lowest income quintile.
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
5th (highest) household income quintile | £811,000 | £786,800 | £658,400 |
4th | £414,000 | £411,900 | £432,000 |
3rd | £210,200 | £242,700 | £198,900 |
2nd | £103,700 | £99,300 | £96,800 |
1st (lowest) household income quintile | £46,800 | £64,700 | £84,500 |
All | £250,700 | £242,700 | £214,000 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
5th (highest) household income quintile | 53 | 53 | 53 |
4th | 53 | 52 | 52 |
3rd | 51 | 53 | 52 |
2nd | 56 | 54 | 57 |
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 62 | 54 | 58 |
All | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
5th (highest) household income quintile | 391 | 378 | 356 |
4th | 349 | 290 | 291 |
3rd | 315 | 328 | 293 |
2nd | 316 | 299 | 293 |
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 325 | 312 | 281 |
All | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Household
Figure 24 shows median household wealth by household type.
Pensioner couple households had more than twice as much wealth as single pensioner households, and working-age couple households had more than twice as much wealth as working-age single households.
In 2018-2020, a typical pensioner couple household had £607,000 in total wealth, compared to £213,100 for a single pensioner. A typical working-age couple with no dependent children had £300,800, and a typical childless working-age single £50,300. A typical couple with children had £244,900 and a typical lone parent had £36,500 in total wealth.
The main reason why couples had more than twice the wealth of single adults was that couples have on average lower living costs as they pool their resources. This enables them to use a larger share of their income to create additional wealth, for example by buying a home, or paying into a private pension scheme.
The 'Other' group contains households with additional adults such as non-dependent (grown-up) children or lodgers.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioner couple | £396,500 | £435,100 | £444,500 | £547,100 | £600,500 | £709,800 | £607,000 |
Working-age couple | £299,400 | £269,100 | £288,800 | £323,000 | £366,900 | £370,700 | £300,800 |
Couple with children | £264,200 | £251,600 | £210,100 | £201,600 | £257,600 | £264,400 | £244,900 |
Other | £203,500 | £191,700 | £201,600 | £232,500 | £257,600 | £256,900 | £293,900 |
Single pensioner | £135,500 | £154,300 | £144,700 | £144,400 | £164,700 | £214,700 | £213,100 |
Single working-age | £61,200 | £52,000 | £50,000 | £55,100 | £82,900 | £93,300 | £50,300 |
Lone parent | £35,000 | £42,500 | £42,200 | £33,200 | £32,200 | £36,700 | £36,500 |
All | £193,100 | £189,000 | £190,000 | £202,900 | £250,700 | £242,700 | £214,000 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioner couple | 69 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 72 |
Working-age couple | 48 | 43 | 45 | 49 | 51 | 50 | 49 |
Couple with children | 41 | 41 | 40 | 40 | 41 | 41 | 41 |
Other | 51 | 52 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 56 | 56 |
Single pensioner | 75 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 76 |
Single working-age | 46 | 43 | 45 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 51 |
Lone parent | 39 | 40 | 39 | 40 | 39 | 39 | 41 |
All | 51 | 51 | 53 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioner couple | 244 | 363 | 401 | 423 | 360 | 322 | 320 |
Working-age couple | 260 | 280 | 263 | 206 | 207 | 222 | 198 |
Couple with children | 270 | 370 | 370 | 314 | 263 | 253 | 217 |
Other | 188 | 233 | 279 | 242 | 235 | 227 | 193 |
Single pensioner | 275 | 342 | 366 | 391 | 349 | 295 | 302 |
Single working-age | 253 | 287 | 284 | 226 | 209 | 222 | 231 |
Lone parent | 109 | 120 | 106 | 88 | 73 | 66 | 53 |
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Tenure
Figure 25 shows median household wealth by housing tenure.
Households who owned their homes outright were the wealthiest, whereas households in the social rented sector were the least wealthy. In 2018-2020, a typical household who owned their home outright had £562,500 in total wealth, compared to £270,500 for households who were buying their home with a mortgage, £45,400 for households in the private rented sector, and £32,500 of households in the social rented sector.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Owning outright | £428,100 | £470,000 | £444,500 | £515,100 | £542,600 | £589,800 | £562,500 |
Buying with mortgage | £287,500 | £236,300 | £258,300 | £262,400 | £327,800 | £304,100 | £270,500 |
Private renting | £43,200 | £30,100 | £39,000 | £40,500 | £54,100 | £46,400 | £45,400 |
Social renting | £21,500 | £22,900 | £27,400 | £23,700 | £33,100 | £35,400 | £32,500 |
All | £193,100 | £189,000 | £190,100 | £202,900 | £250,700 | £242,700 | £214,000 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Owning outright | 67 | 66 | 66 | 66 | 68 | 68 | 68 |
Buying with mortgage | 44 | 43 | 44 | 44 | 45 | 44 | 43 |
Private renting | 38 | 35 | 35 | 42 | 39 | 38 | 38 |
Social renting | 53 | 54 | 56 | 59 | 58 | 55 | 55 |
All | 51 | 51 | 53 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Owning outright | 510 | 713 | 791 | 793 | 758 | 722 | 728 |
Buying with mortgage | 549 | 677 | 634 | 537 | 446 | 428 | 373 |
Private renting | 158 | 153 | 194 | 156 | 143 | 148 | 118 |
Social renting | 382 | 452 | 449 | 404 | 349 | 309 | 295 |
All | 1,599 | 1,995 | 2,068 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Rural
Note that the Wealth and Assets Survey is not representative of areas north of the Caledonian Canal and the Scottish islands. Therefore, some of the most remote areas in Scotland are not included. Urban/rural breakdowns therefore require careful interpretation.
Figure 26 shows median wealth for households in urban and in rural areas.
Rural households had consistently been wealthier compared to urban households. In 2018-2020, a typical rural household had £298,700 in total wealth, compared to £195,500 for urban households.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rural | £272,400 | £314,100 | £332,200 | £372,400 | £346,700 | £486,900 | £298,700 |
Urban | £171,000 | £177,000 | £181,500 | £184,000 | £216,700 | £206,100 | £195,500 |
All | £193,100 | £188,400 | £190,000 | £202,900 | £248,900 | £242,700 | £213,100 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rural | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 62 | 57 | 55 |
Urban | 50 | 50 | 52 | 54 | 54 | 52 | 54 |
All | 51 | 51 | 52 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rural | 467 | 294 | 316 | 334 | 299 | 290 | 293 |
Urban | 1,130 | 1,695 | 1,751 | 1,555 | 1,393 | 1,317 | 1,219 |
All | 1,597 | 1,989 | 2,067 | 1,889 | 1,692 | 1,607 | 1,512 |
Financial wealth & debt
Financial wealth (net financial wealth) is calculated as the sum of all financial assets (such as bank accounts, savings accounts, stocks and shares) minus all liabilities (such as overdrafts, loans, credit card debt, and arrears on household bills). Assets also include informal assets, such as money held at home, or borrowing from friends and family.
This chapter describes how financial wealth is distributed across households in Scotland. A section on financial vulnerability identifies the kind of households with little financial wealth, who might struggle in a crisis. And a section on unmanageable debt looks at those households in Scotland at the very bottom end of the financial wealth spectrum.
We report on financial wealth on a household level.
How much?
Distribution
Figure 27 shows how net financial wealth was distributed.
The bar chart splits all households into ten equal-sized groups (called deciles), sorted by financial wealth amount from the least wealthy on the left, to the wealthiest on the right. The height of the bars shows the typical financial wealth amount of each group, or the decile medians.
The households with the highest financial wealth had a lot more compared to those with the least financial wealth, who were actually in debt. A typical household in the top decile had £242,200 in financial wealth, whereas a typical household in the bottom decile was in debt (they had -£10,800).
Table 27b also shows that the financially wealthiest households tended to have older household heads than the least wealthy.
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | -£10,800 | -£1,500 | £100 | £1,200 | £4,700 | £10,000 | £20,800 | £43,200 | £95,800 | £242,200 |
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | 41 | 47 | 53 | 54 | 58 | 53 | 57 | 57 | 62 | 62 |
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-2020 | 97 | 116 | 115 | 121 | 134 | 144 | 163 | 168 | 209 | 247 |
Trends
Figure 28 shows how median financial wealth in each financial wealth decile changed over time. In 2018-2020, median financial wealth increased slightly in all deciles.
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | -£9,000 | -£9,900 | -£11,900 | -£7,900 | -£9,500 | -£11,400 | -£10,800 |
2 | -£900 | -£1,200 | -£1,700 | -£700 | -£600 | -£2,300 | -£1,500 |
3 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £200 | £200 | £0 | £100 |
4 | £800 | £1,100 | £600 | £800 | £1,100 | £1,000 | £1,200 |
5 | £3,500 | £4,100 | £2,300 | £2,300 | £2,900 | £3,300 | £4,700 |
6 | £9,000 | £10,100 | £6,900 | £6,000 | £7,500 | £8,300 | £10,000 |
7 | £19,500 | £21,400 | £14,500 | £14,700 | £16,000 | £19,200 | £20,800 |
8 | £39,900 | £41,100 | £29,200 | £31,900 | £33,400 | £40,100 | £43,200 |
9 | £73,700 | £79,000 | £63,800 | £74,100 | £74,900 | £84,400 | £95,800 |
10 | £193,200 | £209,800 | £179,900 | £218,100 | £210,900 | £223,600 | £242,200 |
All | £5,700 | £6,800 | £3,900 | £3,800 | £4,700 | £5,700 | £6,700 |
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 39 | 38 | 39 | 43 | 43 | 42 | 41 |
2 | 40 | 41 | 44 | 48 | 48 | 45 | 47 |
3 | 54 | 57 | 52 | 59 | 57 | 53 | 53 |
4 | 49 | 47 | 57 | 49 | 55 | 55 | 54 |
5 | 50 | 49 | 55 | 56 | 52 | 51 | 58 |
6 | 56 | 57 | 55 | 58 | 56 | 54 | 53 |
7 | 54 | 55 | 59 | 58 | 53 | 53 | 57 |
8 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 61 | 62 | 59 | 57 |
9 | 55 | 56 | 58 | 61 | 60 | 60 | 62 |
10 | 58 | 58 | 60 | 62 | 62 | 64 | 62 |
All | 51 | 51 | 53 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 54 |
Decile | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 260 | 173 | 164 | 159 | 142 | 131 | 97 |
2 | 264 | 171 | 191 | 184 | 158 | 121 | 116 |
3 | 297 | 178 | 181 | 137 | 142 | 134 | 115 |
4 | 249 | 169 | 191 | 176 | 141 | 137 | 121 |
5 | 266 | 185 | 197 | 164 | 135 | 143 | 134 |
6 | 274 | 193 | 193 | 175 | 163 | 143 | 144 |
7 | 279 | 198 | 209 | 192 | 167 | 157 | 163 |
8 | 281 | 211 | 219 | 207 | 179 | 189 | 168 |
9 | 295 | 229 | 235 | 232 | 213 | 179 | 209 |
10 | 368 | 288 | 289 | 264 | 256 | 273 | 247 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Financial vulnerability
Financial vulnerability measures look at whether households have enough savings to cope with a financial shock.
Various measures exist. Here, we look at how long a household’s savings would keep them above the poverty line, had they no income. In our previous reports, we compared household savings to a measure of essential living costs.
All measures make assumptions. Our measures assume households lose all income at once and then need to use their savings to replace it. This is an extreme and unlikely scenario for many households. Often, households have many income sources, such as earnings and benefits. Note also that there are many reasons why households may not have access to a lot of cash. Some people with spare cash decide to increase their mortgage payments, or they invest into a private pension. This means that they might be more resilient than what our measure suggests.
With this in mind, our chosen measure is useful for looking at what sort of households are more or less likely to have some emergency cash, and how this has changed over time.
Figure 29 shows that in recent years, 36% of households, were they to lose all income, had enough savings to keep them above the poverty line for longer than a year. This had slightly increased from previous periods.
This estimate compares well with how people perceive their financial resilience. When asked directly, 37% of adults responded that they would be able to make ends meet for over a year should they lose their main source of income (see table 29c below).
On the other hand, 30% of households did not have enough savings to keep them above the poverty line for one month.
Period of time | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
> 12 months | 30% | 30% | 29% | 30% | 33% | 35% | 36% |
6-12 months | 11% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 8% | 11% | 11% |
3-5 months | 10% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 8% | 9% |
1-2 months | 12% | 13% | 15% | 13% | 13% | 14% | 14% |
< 1 month | 26% | 24% | 23% | 24% | 26% | 24% | 22% |
In debt already | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 9% | 7% | 8% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Period of time | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Twelve months or more | 28% | 32% | 35% | 37% |
Six months or more, but less than 12 months | 10% | 11% | 11% | 10% |
Three months or more, but less than six months | 14% | 13% | 12% | 12% |
One month or more, but less than three months | 21% | 19% | 17% | 16% |
One week or more, but less than one month | 16% | 15% | 14% | 14% |
Less than one week | 10% | 10% | 11% | 10% |
Period | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
All | 2,808 | 2,544 | 2,289 | 2,121 |
In this section, financially vulnerable households are households with savings which would cover less than one month of income at the poverty line (the bottom two categories in Figure 29).
Note this is a household-level measure, so breakdowns are for household characteristics such as household type and tenure, and individual characteristics of the household head (the person with the highest income).
We include a range of breakdowns below. We see the biggest differences between groups for household type, economic status of the household head, housing tenure, household income and (formal) qualification of the household head. Other breakdowns show smaller, but yet in many cases consistent differences between groups.
Data on religion, sexual orientation, or area deprivation is not available for this analysis.
Some of the breakdowns below may not be based on the full Scottish sample. This is because we excluded a small number of households where the breakdown characteristic was unknown.
Household
Figure 30 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by household type.
Lone parent households were the most likely to be financially vulnerable, whereas pensioner couple households were the least likely to be financially vulnerable. 64% of lone parent households were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to only 9% of pensioner couple households. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups, and most for lone parent households, couples with children, and single pensioner households.
The 'Other' group contains households with additional adults such as non-dependent (grown-up) children or lodgers.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 79% | 71% | 71% | 73% | 78% | 71% | 64% |
Single working-age | 50% | 52% | 55% | 50% | 46% | 40% | 46% |
Couple with children | 41% | 36% | 41% | 44% | 42% | 37% | 30% |
Other | 41% | 38% | 30% | 40% | 41% | 39% | 39% |
Single pensioner | 31% | 28% | 26% | 29% | 26% | 17% | 18% |
Working-age couple | 25% | 23% | 25% | 29% | 28% | 27% | 20% |
Pensioner couple | 17% | 11% | 16% | 12% | 14% | 9% | 9% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 14% | 13% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 10% |
Single working-age | 22% | 25% | 24% | 19% | 19% | 22% | 29% |
Couple with children | 20% | 20% | 24% | 24% | 22% | 23% | 19% |
Other | 15% | 15% | 15% | 17% | 18% | 21% | 21% |
Single pensioner | 13% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 13% | 7% | 9% |
Working-age couple | 11% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 10% |
Pensioner couple | 6% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 4% | 4% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 38 | 39 | 37 | 39 | 39 | 37 | 39 |
Single working-age | 45 | 42 | 45 | 48 | 50 | 45 | 51 |
Couple with children | 40 | 40 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 40 | 39 |
Other | 48 | 53 | 57 | 50 | 54 | 55 | 54 |
Single pensioner | 73 | 71 | 71 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 72 |
Working-age couple | 43 | 41 | 42 | 45 | 42 | 44 | 32 |
Pensioner couple | 68 | 67 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 68 | 70 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 199 | 120 | 106 | 88 | 73 | 66 | 53 |
Single working-age | 443 | 287 | 284 | 226 | 209 | 222 | 231 |
Couple with children | 493 | 370 | 370 | 314 | 263 | 253 | 217 |
Other | 336 | 233 | 279 | 242 | 235 | 227 | 193 |
Single pensioner | 450 | 342 | 366 | 391 | 349 | 295 | 302 |
Working-age couple | 460 | 280 | 263 | 206 | 207 | 222 | 198 |
Pensioner couple | 452 | 363 | 401 | 423 | 360 | 322 | 320 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Employment
Figure 31 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by the economic status of the household head.
Households with an inactive (but not retired) or unemployed household head were twice as likely to be financially vulnerable compared to households with an employed household head. 67% of households with an inactive/unemployed head were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to only 32% of households with an employed head, 17% of households with a retired head, and 15% of households with a self-employed household head. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups, and most for households with an inactive or unemployed household head.
Economic status data was available from 2014-2016.
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 81% | 81% | 70% | 67% |
Employed | 35% | 35% | 32% | 32% |
Self-employed | 27% | 24% | 27% | 15% |
Retired | 25% | 24% | 17% | 17% |
All | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 25% | 25% | 27% | 25% |
Employed | 47% | 48% | 52% | 55% |
Self-employed | 5% | 3% | 5% | 3% |
Retired | 23% | 23% | 16% | 16% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 48 | 51 | 47 | 53 |
Employed | 42 | 42 | 42 | 41 |
Self-employed | 47 | 42 | 47 | 50 |
Retired | 71 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
All | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 177 | 156 | 163 | 136 |
Employed | 816 | 728 | 689 | 630 |
Self-employed | 131 | 103 | 114 | 109 |
Retired | 766 | 709 | 641 | 639 |
All | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Tenure
Figure 32 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by housing tenure.
Social renters were the most likely to be financially vulnerable, whereas those who owned their homes outright were the least likely to be financially vulnerable. 63% of households in the social rented sector were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 40% of private renters, 24% of those who were buying their home with a mortgage, and 9% of those who owned their home outright. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups, and most for social renters.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social renting | 71% | 73% | 71% | 73% | 71% | 68% | 63% |
Private renting | 46% | 40% | 41% | 48% | 50% | 41% | 40% |
Buying with mortgage | 31% | 27% | 28% | 31% | 31% | 27% | 24% |
Owning outright | 14% | 9% | 12% | 10% | 11% | 9% | 9% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social renting | 46% | 52% | 48% | 48% | 45% | 45% | 50% |
Private renting | 13% | 12% | 14% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 15% |
Buying with mortgage | 30% | 29% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 28% | 24% |
Owning outright | 10% | 7% | 10% | 9% | 11% | 9% | 10% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social renting | 48 | 49 | 49 | 54 | 54 | 52 | 53 |
Private renting | 34 | 35 | 34 | 32 | 37 | 36 | 37 |
Buying with mortgage | 43 | 42 | 43 | 43 | 44 | 44 | 42 |
Owning outright | 65 | 66 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 60 | 66 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social renting | 675 | 452 | 449 | 404 | 349 | 309 | 295 |
Private renting | 271 | 153 | 194 | 156 | 143 | 148 | 118 |
Buying with mortgage | 988 | 677 | 634 | 537 | 446 | 428 | 373 |
Owning outright | 899 | 713 | 791 | 793 | 758 | 722 | 728 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,068 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Income
Figure 33 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by household income quintile (or 20%-band).
Lower income households are less likely to have any spare cash to save for an emergency. But there are also some high-income households with little savings. They may have very high living costs, or they choose to invest their spare cash into a private pension, or they might use it to pay off their mortgage.
50% of households in the bottom income quintile were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 45% of households in the second income quintile, 30% of households in the third quintile, 19% of households in the fourth quintile, and 8% of households in the top income quintile.
Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups, and most for the lowest income households.
Income data was available from 2014-2016.
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 62% | 48% | 50% |
2nd | 49% | 48% | 45% |
3rd | 34% | 30% | 30% |
4th | 24% | 20% | 19% |
5th (highest) household income quintile | 9% | 11% | 8% |
All | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 35% | 31% | 33% |
2nd | 28% | 30% | 29% |
3rd | 19% | 19% | 20% |
4th | 13% | 13% | 13% |
5th (highest) household income quintile | 5% | 7% | 5% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 56 | 46 | 52 |
2nd | 48 | 47 | 51 |
3rd | 45 | 49 | 47 |
4th | 47 | 44 | 50 |
5th (highest) household income quintile | 47 | 48 | 38 |
All | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|
1st (lowest) household income quintile | 325 | 312 | 281 |
2nd | 316 | 299 | 293 |
3rd | 315 | 328 | 293 |
4th | 349 | 290 | 291 |
5th (highest) household income quintile | 391 | 378 | 356 |
All | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Education
Figure 34 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by (formal) qualification of the household head.
Households with the lowest qualified household heads were the most likely to be financially vulnerable. 47% of households where the household head had no formal qualification were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to only 16% of households with highly qualified (degree-level or above) household heads. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups, but most for the least qualified.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No qualification | 55% | 49% | 45% | 51% | 54% | 44% | 47% |
Other qualification | 37% | 37% | 37% | 38% | 37% | 36% | 35% |
Degree-level or above | 20% | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 16% | 16% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No qualification | 35% | 33% | 38% | 34% | 33% | 26% | 23% |
Other qualification | 54% | 58% | 50% | 54% | 52% | 59% | 59% |
Degree-level or above | 11% | 9% | 12% | 12% | 15% | 16% | 18% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No qualification | 57 | 58 | 57 | 62 | 64 | 59 | 61 |
Other qualification | 42 | 42 | 44 | 44 | 47 | 45 | 47 |
Degree-level or above | 37 | 37 | 38 | 43 | 40 | 42 | 41 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No qualification | 676 | 458 | 594 | 449 | 385 | 308 | 220 |
Other qualification | 1,558 | 1,085 | 1,001 | 951 | 827 | 811 | 775 |
Degree-level or above | 595 | 451 | 471 | 489 | 484 | 488 | 519 |
All | 2,829 | 1,994 | 2,066 | 1,889 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Age
Figure 35 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by age of the household head.
Younger households tended to be more likely to be financially vulnerable. 41% of households with 16-34 year-old household heads were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, similar to the 35-44 and 45-54 year-olds (38% and 39%, respectively). In contrast, 27% of households with heads aged 55-64, 22% of households with heads aged 65-74, and only 11% of households with heads aged 75 and over were financially vulnerable. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 49% | 44% | 48% | 55% | 54% | 45% | 41% |
35-44 | 45% | 44% | 47% | 47% | 47% | 40% | 38% |
45-54 | 40% | 37% | 32% | 41% | 40% | 39% | 39% |
55-64 | 33% | 31% | 34% | 27% | 28% | 27% | 27% |
65-74 | 26% | 22% | 24% | 26% | 29% | 21% | 22% |
75+ | 24% | 21% | 21% | 21% | 20% | 13% | 11% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 24% | 23% | 23% | 22% | 19% | 22% | 19% |
35-44 | 25% | 25% | 23% | 21% | 20% | 21% | 21% |
45-54 | 19% | 20% | 18% | 22% | 24% | 27% | 26% |
55-64 | 15% | 16% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 16% | 17% |
65-74 | 9% | 9% | 10% | 12% | 14% | 10% | 12% |
75+ | 8% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 6% | 5% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 28 |
35-44 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 41 | 41 | 40 | 40 |
45-54 | 49 | 49 | 49 | 49 | 50 | 49 | 50 |
55-64 | 59 | 60 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 |
65-74 | 69 | 68 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 70 | 69 |
75+ | 79 | 80 | 80 | 82 | 78 | 78 | 79 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-34 | 432 | 235 | 239 | 176 | 131 | 129 | 108 |
35-44 | 545 | 359 | 313 | 240 | 206 | 202 | 172 |
45-54 | 507 | 386 | 393 | 340 | 333 | 301 | 259 |
55-64 | 544 | 391 | 423 | 398 | 324 | 332 | 317 |
65-74 | 444 | 355 | 397 | 403 | 377 | 342 | 357 |
75+ | 361 | 269 | 304 | 333 | 325 | 301 | 301 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Marital
Figure 36 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by marital status of the household head.
Households with married (or Civil Partnered) or widowed household heads were the least likely to be financially vulnerable. 19% of households with married or Civil Partnered household heads and 21% of households with widowed household heads were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020. Households with single (and never married), divorced (including separated), and cohabiting household heads were more likely to be financially vulnerable (48%, 45%, and 41%, respectively). Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for all groups.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 56% | 58% | 51% | 51% | 51% | 39% | 45% |
Single | 53% | 50% | 48% | 51% | 46% | 46% | 48% |
Cohabiting | 43% | 40% | 48% | 41% | 41% | 51% | 41% |
Widowed | 32% | 27% | 27% | 30% | 27% | 22% | 21% |
Married | 27% | 23% | 26% | 28% | 29% | 22% | 19% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 20% | 23% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 17% | 21% |
Single | 27% | 27% | 22% | 21% | 23% | 27% | 29% |
Cohabiting | 9% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 9% | 15% | 13% |
Widowed | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 10% | 8% | 9% |
Married | 34% | 32% | 38% | 38% | 38% | 33% | 28% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 50 | 50 | 53 | 52 | 57 | 58 | 56 |
Single | 35 | 36 | 37 | 40 | 40 | 38 | 43 |
Cohabiting | 32 | 33 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 32 | 35 |
Widowed | 75 | 77 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 67 | 72 |
Married | 47 | 46 | 47 | 47 | 47 | 49 | 47 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 378 | 277 | 282 | 262 | 239 | 238 | 215 |
Single | 501 | 318 | 312 | 253 | 251 | 226 | 206 |
Cohabiting | 195 | 127 | 142 | 140 | 125 | 127 | 99 |
Widowed | 374 | 253 | 282 | 286 | 243 | 220 | 245 |
Married | 1,385 | 1,020 | 1,051 | 949 | 838 | 796 | 749 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Children
Figure 37 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by whether there were any dependent children living in the household.
Households with children were more likely to be financially vulnerable compared to those without. 37% of households with dependent children were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 28% of households without any dependent children. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for both groups, but more so for households with children.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
With children | 51% | 45% | 47% | 50% | 52% | 44% | 37% |
No children | 33% | 31% | 31% | 31% | 30% | 27% | 28% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
With children | 35% | 35% | 35% | 37% | 37% | 36% | 30% |
No children | 65% | 65% | 65% | 63% | 63% | 64% | 70% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
With children | 40 | 40 | 37 | 39 | 40 | 40 | 41 |
No children | 53 | 53 | 56 | 57 | 57 | 52 | 53 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
With children | 721 | 513 | 496 | 430 | 361 | 338 | 287 |
No children | 2,112 | 1,482 | 1,573 | 1,460 | 1,335 | 1,269 | 1,227 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Disability
Figure 38 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by whether there were any disabled household members.
Households with disabled household members were more likely to be financially vulnerable compared to those with no disabled household members. 40% of households with disabled members were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 25% of households with no disabled members. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for both groups.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Someone disabled | 47% | 46% | 44% | 45% | 45% | 37% | 40% |
No-one disabled | 33% | 30% | 31% | 32% | 31% | 29% | 25% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Someone disabled | 38% | 39% | 39% | 40% | 43% | 40% | 46% |
No-one disabled | 62% | 61% | 61% | 60% | 57% | 60% | 54% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Someone disabled | 54 | 55 | 56 | 55 | 57 | 54 | 54 |
No-one disabled | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 44 | 42 | 44 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Someone disabled | 861 | 613 | 645 | 626 | 562 | 574 | 538 |
No-one disabled | 1,972 | 1,382 | 1,424 | 1,264 | 1,134 | 1,033 | 976 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Sex
Figure 39 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by sex of the household head.
Female-headed households were more likely to be financially vulnerable compared to households with male household heads. 35% of female-headed households were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 27% of male-headed households. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for both groups, but more so for female-headed households.
Note that some of the difference can be explained by lone parent households. Lone parent households have a high risk of being financially vulnerable, and most lone parent households are female-headed. However, excluding lone parent households from this analysis reduces the gap, but a gap remains.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 47% | 41% | 40% | 42% | 43% | 37% | 35% |
Male | 31% | 30% | 31% | 32% | 30% | 28% | 27% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 50% | 47% | 46% | 48% | 52% | 49% | 48% |
Male | 50% | 53% | 54% | 52% | 48% | 51% | 52% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 45 | 46 | 46 | 48 | 49 | 46 | 52 |
Male | 46 | 45 | 47 | 47 | 50 | 47 | 47 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 1,109 | 786 | 814 | 781 | 702 | 672 | 609 |
Male | 1,724 | 1,209 | 1,255 | 1,109 | 994 | 935 | 905 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Rural
Note that the Wealth and Assets Survey is not representative of areas north of the Caledonian Canal and the Scottish islands. Therefore, some of the most remote areas in Scotland are not included. Urban/rural breakdowns therefore require careful interpretation.
Figure 40 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by urban and rural areas.
Households in urban areas were more likely to be financially vulnerable compared to households in rural areas. 33% of urban households were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 20% of rural households. Over time, the risk of financial vulnerability had decreased for both groups, but more so for rural households.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urban | 39% | 36% | 36% | 38% | 37% | 33% | 33% |
Rural | 34% | 25% | 30% | 25% | 25% | 24% | 20% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urban | 76% | 91% | 89% | 89% | 90% | 88% | 89% |
Rural | 24% | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 12% | 11% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urban | 45 | 45 | 46 | 48 | 48 | 46 | 49 |
Rural | 47 | 47 | 48 | 48 | 52 | 52 | 48 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urban | 2,029 | 1,695 | 1,751 | 1,555 | 1,393 | 1,317 | 1,219 |
Rural | 800 | 294 | 316 | 334 | 299 | 290 | 293 |
All | 2,829 | 1,989 | 2,067 | 1,889 | 1,692 | 1,607 | 1,512 |
Ethnicity
Figure 41 shows the proportion of households that were financially vulnerable, broken down by ethnicity of the household head.
Minority ethnic households and white British households had a similar risk of being financially vulnerable. 39% of minority ethnic households were financially vulnerable in 2018-2020, compared to 30% of white British households.
The risk for the two groups is described as similar, because the difference was not consistent over time. The financial vulnerability risk had fluctuated for the minority ethnic group, and decreased for the white British group. The fluctuations were likely caused by variability in the small minority ethnic sample, and they also reflect the larger measurement uncertainty for smaller subgroups of the population.
Note that minority ethnic households include white ethnic minorities such as EU citizens and gypsy/travellers.
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minority ethnic | 38% | 47% | 38% | 45% | 26% | 23% | 39% |
White British | 38% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 37% | 32% | 30% |
All | 38% | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 31% | 31% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minority ethnic | 7% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 4% | 5% | 10% |
White British | 93% | 93% | 94% | 93% | 96% | 95% | 90% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minority ethnic | 37 | 35 | 40 | 31 | 34 | 36 | 43 |
White British | 46 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 51 | 48 | 50 |
All | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 50 | 47 | 49 |
Group | 2006-2008 | 2008-2010 | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minority ethnic | 186 | 88 | 86 | 71 | 61 | 67 | 76 |
White British | 2,647 | 1,907 | 1,926 | 1,767 | 1,542 | 1,367 | 1,338 |
All | 2,833 | 1,995 | 2,012 | 1,838 | 1,603 | 1,434 | 1,414 |
Unmanageable debt
Some households not only have no financial wealth, but they are in debt, or even in unmanageable debt. The definition of unmanageable debt in this report is identical to the Office for National Statistics’ problem debt, see their Household debt in Great Britain report.
In short, a household is in unmanageable debt if they have liquidity problems or solvency problems, or both. Liquidity problems mean people struggle with their debt repayments and are falling behind with bills. Solvency problems mean people have a large amount of debt and feel heavily burdened by it.
Unmanageable debt in Scotland is monitored within Scotland’s National Performance Framework.
Figure 42 shows the proportion of households with unmanageable debt over time.
Very few households in Scotland had unmanageable debt, just 4.1% in 2018-2020. This figure had changed little since 2010-2012, when data on unmanageable debt was first collected.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 5.6% | 4.0% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 4.1% |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 44 | 43 | 41 | 40 | 43 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Note that unmanageable debt is a household-level measure, so breakdowns are for household characteristics such as household type and tenure, and individual characteristics of the household head (the person with the highest income).
We include a range of breakdowns below. Differences between groups are generally small, and estimates tend to fluctuate over time due to the variability of the small samples of those in unmanageable debt. Therefore, we are limited in interpreting changes over time, or identifying clear differences between groups.
We see the clearest differences between groups for economic status of the household head, household type and whether there are children in the household, housing tenure, and household income.
Data on religion, sexual orientation, or area deprivation is not available for this analysis.
Some of the breakdowns below may not be based on the full Scottish sample. This is because we excluded a small number of households where the breakdown characteristic was unknown.
Employment
Figure 43 shows the proportion of households that had unmanageable debt, broken down by economic status of the household head.
Households where the household head was economically inactive (but not retired) or unemployed were the most likely to have unmanageable debt. 11.1% of these households had unmanageable debt in 2018-2020. In contrast, only 5.2% of households where the household head was employed had unmanageable debt. Households with retired or self-employed household heads had hardly any risk of having unmanageable debt.
Economic status data was available from 2014-2016.
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 10.3% | 6.8% | 7.2% | 11.1% |
Employed | 4.7% | 3.2% | 3.4% | 5.2% |
Self-employed | 3.3% | 5.8% | 2.2% | 0.0% |
Retired | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
All | 4.0% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 4.1% |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 28% | 27% | 30% | 32% |
Employed | 57% | 57% | 62% | 66% |
Self-employed | 6% | 11% | 5% | 0% |
Retired | 9% | 6% | 3% | 3% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 39 | 48 | 45 | 45 |
Employed | 43 | 38 | 38 | 42 |
Self-employed | 40 | 31 | 41 | 50 |
Retired | 75 | 76 | 69 | 73 |
All | 43 | 41 | 40 | 43 |
Group | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Inactive/Unemployed | 177 | 156 | 163 | 136 |
Employed | 816 | 728 | 689 | 630 |
Self-employed | 131 | 103 | 114 | 109 |
Retired | 766 | 709 | 641 | 639 |
All | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Household
Figure 44 shows the proportion of households that had unmanageable debt, broken down by household type.
Lone parent households were the most likely to have unmanageable debt. 9.8% of lone parent households had unmanageable debt in 2018-2020. In contrast, pensioner households had hardly any risk of having unmanageable debt.
The 'Other' group contains households with additional adults such as non-dependent (grown-up) children.
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 20.0% | 12.9% | 5.3% | 9.1% | 9.8% |
Single working-age | 8.5% | 8.6% | 5.2% | 5.2% | 7.1% |
Couple with children | 8.4% | 4.6% | 3.8% | 3.1% | 6.8% |
Other | 5.1% | 3.8% | 3.2% | 2.1% | 4.9% |
Working-age couple | 3.1% | 3.8% | 3.0% | 3.3% | 0.9% |
Single pensioner | 1.6% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.3% |
Pensioner couple | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
All | 5.6% | 4.0% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 4.1% |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 17% | 16% | 10% | 16% | 11% |
Single working-age | 23% | 29% | 28% | 32% | 34% |
Couple with children | 30% | 23% | 25% | 21% | 31% |
Other | 16% | 14% | 18% | 12% | 19% |
Working-age couple | 7% | 11% | 13% | 17% | 3% |
Single pensioner | 5% | 5% | 5% | 2% | 1% |
Pensioner couple | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
All | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 38 | 45 | 44 | 36 | 43 |
Single working-age | 47 | 36 | 51 | 45 | 52 |
Couple with children | 37 | 39 | 32 | 39 | 38 |
Other | 52 | 64 | 41 | 46 | 44 |
Working-age couple | 43 | 43 | 38 | 25 | 45 |
Single pensioner | 65 | 66 | 76 | 69 | 73 |
Pensioner couple | 58 | 86 | 75 | 71 | 72 |
All | 44 | 43 | 41 | 40 | 43 |
Group | 2010-2012 | 2012-2014 | 2014-2016 | 2016-2018 | 2018-2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lone parent | 106 | 88 | 73 | 66 | 53 |
Single working-age | 284 | 226 | 209 | 222 | 231 |
Couple with children | 370 | 314 | 263 | 253 | 217 |
Other | 279 | 242 | 235 | 227 | 193 |
Working-age couple | 263 | 206 | 207 | 222 | 198 |
Single pensioner | 366 | 391 | 349 | 295 | 302 |
Pensioner couple | 401 | 423 | 360 | 322 | 320 |
All | 2,069 | 1,890 | 1,696 | 1,607 | 1,514 |
Tenure
Figure 45 shows the proportion of households that had unmanageable debt, broken down by housing tenure.
Households in the social rented sector were the most l