Trends in
Migration
Last Updated: August 2011
Historically, Scotland has been a country of net out-migration, with more people leaving to live elsewhere than moving to live in Scotland. However, since the 1960s, net out-migration has greatly reduced and, in some years during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Scotland experienced net migration gains. Scotland has now entered a period of net in-migration. Over the last six years, there have been net gains of at least 19,000 per year. In 2008-09 the net migration gain was 21,700, the third highest since records started in 1951.
Net migration, Scotland, 1951-2010
Source: National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) patient movements
These recent migration gains are a result of more people entering Scotland from both the rest of the UK and overseas than go in the other direction.