The Registrar General's Annual Review of Scotland's Population

7 August 2009

Scotland's population rose again last year, reaching its highest level since 1981.

This is one of the key findings in "Scotland's Population 2008: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends" which was published today.

In the 12 months between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008, the population increased by around 24,300 (0.5%) to 5.17 million.

Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said:-

"In 2008, Scotland remained an attractive destination for migrants, with 20,000 more people coming here (mainly from England) than leaving. Births also exceeded deaths by 4,000 - the highest natural increase since 1992”.

Other key points in the review are:-

Population

The estimated population of Scotland on 30 June 2008 was 5,168,500.

Changes in the population vary across Scotland. In the 10 years from 1998 to 2008, the council areas with the highest percentage increases and decreases in population were:

West Lothian up 11%; East Lothian up 9%; Perth and Kinross up 7%.
Inverclyde down 6%; Eilean Siar down 5%; Dundee City down 5%.

In the 10 years from 1998 to 2008, the ageing of the population was reflected in the number of children under 16 reducing by 9%, and the number of people aged 75 and over increasing by 13%.

Migration

In the year to 30 June 2008, the number of people moving to Scotland from other parts of the UK, and out of Scotland to other parts of the UK, meant that the population increased by around 11,500 people.

In the year to 30 June 2008, the number of people moving to Scotland from overseas, and out of Scotland to go overseas, meant that the population increased by around 7,700 people.

Most people moving to and from Scotland are young – between 16 and 34. In every age group, more people moved to Scotland from the rest of the UK than migrated in the opposite direction. Moves to and from overseas countries increased the population in every age group up to 35.

Births

There were 60,041 births registered in Scotland in 2008.

The number of births has increased over the past six years, and the total for 2008 was the highest since 1995.

The average age of mothers has increased from 27.4 in 1991 to 29.4 in 2008. Similarly, the average age of fathers has increased from 30.0 in 1991 to 32.3 in 2008.

The percentage of babies born to unmarried couples has been rising steadily for several years. 2008 was the first year this was more than 50% for Scotland as a whole.

87% of mothers who gave birth in 2008 were born in the UK, including 77% who were born in Scotland. 5% of mothers were born in other countries in the European Union (EU), including 3% from the countries which joined the EU in 2004 (such as Poland).

Deaths

There were 55,700 deaths registered in Scotland in 2008, the second lowest number since the introduction of civil registration in 1855.

The main causes of deaths were:

15,269 (27%) from cancer.
8,841 (16%) from coronary heart disease.
7,443 (13%) from respiratory system diseases (such as pneumonia).
5,367 (10%) from strokes.

The percentage of deaths caused by coronary heart disease has fallen from 29% in 1981 to 16% in 2008, but the percentage of deaths caused by cancer has risen from 22% to 27%.

In 2008, there were 1,411 deaths from causes entirely related to alcohol. After a sharp rise in the 1990s, the number of deaths from these causes appears to have levelled off in the last few years.

Life expectancy in Scotland has improved greatly over the last 25 years, increasing from 69.1 years for men and 75.4 years for women born around 1981 to 75 years for men and 79.9 years for women born around 2007.

Despite recent improvements, Scottish men and women have poorer life expectancy than people in most of the EU – about four years lower for men, and almost five years lower for women, when compared to the countries where life expectancy is highest.

Marriages and civil partnerships

There were 28,903 marriages in Scotland in 2008. This includes 7,354 marriages (25%) where neither the bride nor groom lived in Scotland, but does not include people living in Scotland who married elsewhere.

For first marriages, the average age of bride and groom has increased by around two and a half years in the last 10 years, to 32.5 years for men and 30.6 years for women.

Just over half of all marriages (53%) were civil ceremonies, carried out by a registrar – compared to just under one-third (31%) in 1971.

In 2008 there were 525 civil partnerships – 245 male couples and 280 female couples. This is a drop of around 500 compared to 2006, which was the first full year in which civil partnerships could be registered.

Divorces and dissolutions

In 2008, there were 11,474 divorces and 14 dissolutions of civil partnerships (when a civil partnership is ended) in Scotland.

Adoptions

In 2008, 418 adoptions were recorded in Scotland. The number of adoptions each year has approximately halved since the early 1990s.

Households and housing

In the middle of 2008, there were 2.3 million households in Scotland – around 290,000 more than in 1991.

The number of households has been increasing steadily but this growth has slowed over the last year. Between 2007 and 2008, the increase in the number of households (17,500) was lower than in any other year for the last five years.

Registration legislation

The Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006 was the first major reform of the registration service since 1965.

The Act allows births and deaths to be registered anywhere in Scotland, rather than only the registration district where the person lived, or where the event took place. In 2008, almost 5,900 events (about 1 in 20 of all births and deaths) were registered in a place which would not have been allowed before the Act.

The arrangements for people to register a change in their name were speeded up and the number of applications increased by almost one half between 2006 and 2007.