Photo: Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in terraced houses: 36%, a higher share than 91% of UK towns
Compared with 29% across Scotland’s towns, 26% of households have no car or van here. At 39%, the share of married adults and civil partners is lower than in 93% of UK towns. There were 3,818 households in Shotts at the 2022 Census, home to 8,794 residents. Locally, 95% of residents describe themselves as White British.
Shotts is younger than 70% of UK towns: a median age of 41.8
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2022.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 18%, against 19% across Scotland’s towns. The share of residents aged 15 to 24 stands at 9.4%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Shotts, 41.8. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 106 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students: 5.1%, a higher share than 62% of UK towns
What adults did at the 2022 Census (the NS-SEC classes).
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Across Scotland’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 25% in routine or semi-routine work; Shotts has 23% and 34%. To put it in context, nearly one in ten adults are full-time students across Scotland’s towns.
The Census was taken on 20 March 2022, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 88% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2022 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against North Lanarkshire’s towns and Scotland’s towns
People per household
Scotland’s towns.
The share of shared households of unrelated adults is 2%, against 3.5% across Scotland’s towns. In Shotts, 26% of households have dependent children. At 38%, the share of one-person households is higher than in 96% of UK towns.
A larger share of households in flats than 86% of UK towns: 22%
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
Across Scotland’s towns, the share of households in detached houses is 18%; Shotts has 16%. Measured more widely, nearly two in five households live in a flat or apartment across Scotland’s towns.
4.1% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 77% of UK towns
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
Arrivals from 2017 on account for nearly a fifth of residents born abroad, beside 34% across Scotland’s towns. Fewer residents whose main language is English than in 55% of UK towns: 97%. The share of residents born outside the UK across Scotland’s towns is 11%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.5%).
53% describe themselves as Christian, more than in 72% of UK towns
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: 95% of Shotts · North Lanarkshire’s towns 92% · Scotland’s towns 86%.
Religion · all residents
Where 51% of residents said they have no religion across Scotland’s towns, Shotts has 39%. Next after White British come Other White (4%), Pakistani (0.5%) and Mixed or multiple (0.3%).
13% of residents give unpaid care, more than in 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
Just over two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership (Scotland’s towns: 40%). Across the comparison, just over one in ten residents give unpaid care across Scotland’s towns. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 293.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 18%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2022.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 18% of Shotts’s adults, against 32% across Scotland’s towns; 25% have no qualification (17%).
Ranked by age, 128th youngest of 483 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2022. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Tidworth (28.4), the youngest, and Barton on Sea (65.3), the oldest. Nearest to Shotts in age: Pontarddulais (41.8), Tonyrefail (41.8), Shifnal (41.9) and Polesworth and Dordon (41.9).
Older than Shotts: 5 of the 7 towns nearby
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2022. Tap a town for its page.
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in term time. 20 March 2022 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “North Lanarkshire’s towns” and “Scotland’s towns” mean their towns. Census comparisons pool every locality in North Lanarkshire (or Scotland), summed the same way as Shotts’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 Shotts’s residents
What is the population of Shotts?
The 2022 Census counted 8,794 people in Shotts’s locality.
What is the average age in Shotts?
The median age was 41.8 at the 2022 Census, younger than 70% of UK towns. 9.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Shotts?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2022, against 86% across Scotland’s towns and 92% across North Lanarkshire’s towns. 4.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Shotts?
39% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2022 Census; 0.8% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Shotts good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2022, against 24% across Scotland’s towns. Schools are on Shotts’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.