About Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of the largest health and social care partnerships in Scotland, with a population of 526,470 as of July 2021. 81,277 residents were aged 65 or over, with this age group projected to increase the most over the coming years.

Edinburgh is also the wealthiest city in Scotland, with 74.8% of the working age population in employment. 40.8% of the economically inactive population within the city are students.

However, 15% of the population, and as many as 20% of children, live in relative poverty. This poverty is spread throughout the city, with two thirds of those living in poverty not living in areas described as deprived. The majority of those in poverty are in employment. Our joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) provides more detail on the population and demographics of Edinburgh.

Our Localities

We organise our community health and social care services in Edinburgh around four localities: South East, South West, North East and North West. The management of most community health and social care services is carried out in these localities, including assessment and care management, home care, day centres for older people and care homes in Edinburgh.

This allows us to plan and tailor services to the communities we are supporting. Each locality has a hub team that responds to new and urgent work and two cluster care management teams that arrange and review ongoing support. There is also a mental health and substance misuse team in each locality.

North East

  • 123,328 people live in the North East locality[1]
  • 50.8% are female and 49.2% are male
  • 15.2% are aged under 18, 71.4% are 18-64 and 13.5% are over 65
  • 16.5% of the population reside within the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland1
  • Life expectancy at birth is 80.7 years for women and 76 for men[2]
  • 34,536 average home care hours per week between January and March 2022
  • 1,409 people receive home care service
  • 18 GP practices[3]

North West

  • 148,576 people live in the North West locality1
  • 51.8% are female and 48.2% are male
  • 19.9% are aged under 18, 62.7% are 18-64 and 17.3% are over 65
  • 9% of the population reside within the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland1
  • Life expectancy at birth is 83.5 years for women and 79.6 for men2
  • 25,888 average home care hours per week between January and March 2022
  • 1,310 people receive home care service
  • 18 GP practices3

South East

  • 141,041 people live in the South East locality1
  • 52.1% are female and 47.9% are male
  • 13.8% are aged under 18, 72.3% are 18-64 and 13.9% are over 65
  • 9.4% of the population reside within the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland1
  • Life expectancy at birth is 82.3 years for women and 78.1 for men2
  • 25,420 average home care hours per week between January and March 2022
  • 1,173 people receive home care service
  • 19 GP practices3

South West

  • 114,675 people live in the South West locality1
  • 49.8% are female and 50.2% are male
  • 17.3% are aged under 18, 67.3% are 18-64 and 15.4% are over 65
  • 12.6% of the population reside within the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland1
  • Life expectancy at birth is 83.3 years for women and 79 for men2
  • 31,141 average home care hours per week between January and March 2022
  • 1,224 people receive home care service
  • 16 GP practices3

[1] Edinburgh Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

[2]  The Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO)

[3] National Primary Care Clinicians Database (NPCCD), Public Health Scotland