Scotland’s Population
Recent Trends
Last updated: April 2011
The latest estimate of Scotland’s population (on 30 June 2010) is 5,222,100 – the highest since 1977 and an increase of 28,100 people on the previous year. There are 167,300 more people in Scotland compared with mid-2002 when the population hit its lowest level since just after the Second World War.
The increase in Scotland’s population has been driven mostly by net in-migration although, in the last four years, there have also been more births than deaths. In the twelve months to 30 June 2010, in-migration exceeded out-migration by 25,000. This included a net gain of around 3,300 from the rest of the UK and a net gain of around 21,500 from overseas (including asylum seekers) and a net gain of 200 due to movements between the armed forces and the civilian population. Other changes (including changes in the prison population, and changes in the number of armed forces stationed in Scotland) amounted to a decrease of 2,100 people. In the same period, there were 5,188 more births than deaths (58,937 births and 53,749 deaths), the number of births having decreased slightly and the number of deaths having fallen by around 1,000 compared with the year to end June 2009.
The rise in Scotland’s population in the last eight years should be seen in the context of the relative stability of the population over the last 50 years. The population reached a peak of 5.24 million in 1974 before falling to 5.05 million in 2002 and then rising again in the last eight years.
Estimated population of Scotland, 1951-2010