Photo: John Ferguson · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer families than 96% of UK towns: 19% of households have children
The share of one-person households is 46%, against 38% across Scotland’s towns. 7,982 residents in 4,130 households: that is Dunoon at the 2022 Census. On the census count, 8.6% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Residents who describe themselves as Christian are rarer here than in 88% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Dunoon’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Dunoon’s residents are under 51.7 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% are 65 or over, against 19% across Scotland’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Scotland’s Census 2022 (output areas summed to the 2022 locality).
Dunoon is older than 91% of UK towns: a median age of 51.7
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2022.
Here 29% of residents are 65 or over, where the figure across Scotland’s towns is 19%. No age band is larger than 60–64: 8.2% of residents, 1.3 times the share across Scotland’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Dunoon, 51.7. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer full-time students than 77% of UK towns: 4.2%
What adults did at the 2022 Census (the NS-SEC classes).
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Managerial and professional jobs take in 29% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 28% (Scotland’s towns: 33% and 25%). To put it in context, nearly one in ten adults are full-time students across Scotland’s towns.
Dunoon households average 1.9 people, smaller than in 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2022 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Argyll and Bute’s towns and Scotland’s towns
People per household
Scotland’s towns.
The share of shared households of unrelated adults trails 75% of UK towns: 1.9%.
Dunoon ranks below 86% of UK towns on households in terraced houses: 11%
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2022. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Little separates the share of households in flats here, 39%, from the figure across Scotland’s towns. The usual figure: nearly a fifth of households live in a terraced house across Scotland’s towns. Here, 29% of households have no car or van. Households in detached houses are rarer here than in 50% of UK towns.
A smaller share of residents born outside the UK than 58% of UK towns: 5.6%
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2022.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 15%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Born abroad and arrived since 2017: 19% of that group, against 34% across Scotland’s towns. Locally, 98% of residents have English as their main language. The comparison figure for residents born outside the UK is 11% across Scotland’s towns.
Above 66% of UK towns: 94% of residents describe themselves as White British
How residents described themselves at the 2022 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 94% of Dunoon · Argyll and Bute’s towns 93% · Scotland’s towns 86%.
Religion · all residents
Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (3.6%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Indian (0.3%). On average, 86% of residents describe themselves as White British across Scotland’s towns. Residents with no religion are more common here than in 93% of UK towns.
Dunoon: 13% of residents give unpaid care, above 99% of UK towns
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 3 and over), Census 2022.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 3 and over
Dunoon sits close to the norm on married adults and civil partners: 42%, about the same as across Scotland’s towns. 288 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week. At 33%, the share of adults who have never married is higher than in 55% of UK towns. Set beside that, just over one in ten residents give unpaid care across Scotland’s towns.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 28%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2022.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Dunoon’s adults: 28% with a degree-level qualification and 20% with none, against 32% and 17% across Scotland’s towns.
36th highest median age among 425 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000
Median age, Census 2022. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Tidworth is the youngest (28.4); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Dunoon in age: Greasby (51.4), Ledbury (51.7), Hexham (51.8) and Richmond (51.9).
Of the 7 towns nearest Dunoon, 3 are older
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2022. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunoon | 7,982 | — | 51.7 | 29% | 19% |
| Gourock | 10,072 | 3.8 mi | 52 | 27% | 18% |
| Inverkip | 3,542 | 4.1 mi | 46.1 | 17% | 30% |
| Greenock | 42,870 | 5.9 mi | 45.5 | 21% | 23% |
| Helensburgh | 14,128 | 8.5 mi | 48.4 | 25% | 22% |
| Rothesay | 4,206 | 9.6 mi | 55.2 | 32% | 15% |
| Port Glasgow | 14,260 | 10 mi | 45.1 | 22% | 24% |
| Largs | 10,916 | 11.2 mi | 56.7 | 36% | 17% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Argyll and Bute’s towns” and “Scotland’s towns” mean their towns. Census comparisons pool every locality in Argyll and Bute (or Scotland), summed the same way as Dunoon’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. National Records of Scotland adjusts small Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Dunoon’s residents
What is the population of Dunoon?
The 2022 Census counted 7,982 people in Dunoon’s locality.
What is the average age in Dunoon?
The median age was 51.7 at the 2022 Census, older than 91% of UK towns. 8.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Dunoon?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2022, against 86% across Scotland’s towns and 93% across Argyll and Bute’s towns. 5.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Dunoon?
50% said they had no religion and 42% that they were Christian at the 2022 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.9% didn’t answer.
Is Dunoon good for families?
19% of households had dependent children in 2022, against 24% across Scotland’s towns. Schools are on Dunoon’s schools page.
Sources: Scotland’s Census 2022 (National Records of Scotland), output areas summed to the NRS 2022 locality (UV101b, UV103, UV104, UV113, UV201, UV204b, UV205, UV212, UV301, UV402, UV405, UV406, UV501, UV607, UV801). Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.