Estimates of households and dwellings are published every year in order to help planners, particularly in councils, in their decision-making and other research. The estimates are used for a range of purposes including councils’ decisions about housing need and the provision of services (including planning waste collection and community care), as well as a range of other uses (Section 4.10).
The estimates also contribute to the publication, Household Projections for Scotland, 2012-based (available on the National Records of Scotland website), which has been released alongside this publication. Household projections are published every two years.
A 'dwelling' refers to the accommodation itself, for example, a house or a flat. A ‘household’ refers to the people living together in that dwelling. The number of households will be smaller than the number of dwellings, as some dwellings are vacant or second homes. Household estimates come from Council Tax records. Dwelling estimates come from Scottish Assessors' data. More details about the sources, methods and defintions used, can be found in the Background Information section of this publication.