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Occasional Paper

No. 11

Published on 25 January 2005

Scotland’s Census 2001 - Statistics on Migration

Alan D Fleming

This paper presents information from the 2001 Census on the characteristics of migrants.  Although most of the information is provided at local authority area level, there are also analyses of migration between urban and rural areas.  The paper looks at different groups of migrants, namely those who moved within Scotland, those who moved between Scotland and the rest of the UK and those who moved to Scotland from overseas.
 
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Tables and charts

Table 1A
People who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and by age group
Table 1B
People who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in 1 year before the Census and by age group
Table 1C
Net levels of migration by age group for persons moving between Scottish local authorities
Chart 1A
Number, per 1,000 population, of in-migrants to local authority areas from other areas within Scotland
Chart 1B
Number, per 1,000 population, of out-migrants from local authority areas to other areas within Scotland
Chart 1C
Net levels of migration, per 1,000 population, for persons moving between Scottish local authorities
Table 2A
People who moved to Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and by age group
Table 2B
People who moved from Scotland to the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in 1 year before the Census and by age group
Table 2C
Net levels of migration by age group for each local authority area for people moving between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom
Chart 2A
Number, per 1,000 population, of in-migrants to Scottish local authority areas from elsewhere within the United Kingdom outwith Scotland
Chart 2B
Number, per 1,000 population, of out-migrants from Scottish local authority areas to elsewhere within the United Kingdom outwith Scotland
Chart 2C
Net levels of migration, per 1,000 population, for each local authority area for persons moving between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom
Table 3A
People who moved to Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and by which Government Office Region they lived in one year previously
Table 3B
People who moved from Scotland to the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in one year before the Census and by which Government Office Region they lived in at Census time
Table 3C
Net levels of migration by Government Office Region for each local authority area for people moving between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom
Table 4
People who moved to Scotland from outside the United Kingdom in the year before the Census
Chart 3
Number, per 1,000 population, of in-migrants to Scottish local authority areas from outwith the United Kingdom
Table 5
People who moved to Scotland from outside the United Kingdom in the year before the Census
Chart 4
Migrants in Scotland who moved from one Scottish local authority area to another or who moved from outwith Scotland: Breakdown for each age group by where they lived 1 year before the Census
Table 6A
People aged 16-74 who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and by economic position
Table 6B
People aged 16-74 who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in 1 year before the Census and by economic position
Table 6C
Net levels of migration by economic position for persons aged 16-74 moving between Scottish local authorities
Chart 5
Net levels of migration, per 1,000 population, for persons aged 16-74 moving between Scottish local authorities
Table 7
People aged 16-74 who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census and who were non-students in employment at the time of the Census
Table 8
Net levels of migration by economic position for persons aged 16-74 moving between Scotland and the rest of the UK
Table 9A
Comparison of Scottish born persons living elsewhere in the UK with persons living in Scotland but born elsewhere in the UK
Table 9B
Comparison of Scottish born migrants who moved from Scotland to the rest of the UK in the year before the Census with migrants born elsewhere in the UK who moved from elsewhere in the UK to Scotland
Table 9C
Comparison of Scottish born migrants who moved from the rest of the UK to Scotland in the year before the Census with migrants born elsewhere in the UK who moved from Scotland to elsewhere in the UK
Table 10
Migrants aged 16-74 who lived in Scotland and were full-time students at the time of the Census and student migrants living elsewhere in the UK who lived in Scotland one year before the Census
Table 11A
People aged 16-74 living in households at Census time who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and by housing tenure
Table 11B
People aged 16-74 living in households at Census time who moved between Scottish local authorities in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the local authority area they lived in 1 year before the Census and by housing tenure
Table 11C
Difference between Census day tenures of inflows and outflows for people in households aged 16-74 moving between Scottish local authority areas
Table 12
Migrants who moved between Scottish addresses, by Scottish Household Survey urban/rural indicator at both Census time and one year before the Census
Table 13A
People who moved in the year before the Census and moved between Scottish addresses which had different SHS urban/rural classifications: Breakdown by the SHS urban/rural category of the area they lived in at Census time and by age group
Table 13B
People who moved in the year before the Census and moved between Scottish addresses which had different SHS urban/rural classifications: Breakdown by the SHS urban/rural category of the area they lived in one year before the Census and by age group
Table 13C
Net levels of migration by age group for persons moving within Scotland but between addresses which had different SHS urban/rural classifications
Chart 6
Net levels of migration, per 1,000 population, for each Scottish Household Survey urban/rural area
Table 14A
People who moved to Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the SHS urban/rural category of the area they lived in at Census time and by age group
Table 14B
People who moved from Scotland to the rest of the United Kingdom in the year before the Census: Breakdown by the SHS urban/rural category of the area they lived in one year before the Census and by age group
Table 14C
Net levels of migration by age group for each SHS urban/rural area for people moving between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom
Table 15
People who moved to Scotland from outside the United Kingdom in the year before the Census
Table 16
Average age of migrants to and from SHS urban/rural areas
Chart 7
Migrants into each SHS urban/rural area category by where they lived one year previously
Table 17
Net flow into/out of Edinburgh, South Lanarkshire and the Shetland Islands from/to other local authority areas in Scotland
Table 18A
People who moved into Edinburgh from each neighbouring local authority area
Table 18B
People who moved out of Edinburgh to each neighbouring local authority area
Table 18C
Net movement into (out of) Edinburgh to each neighbouring local authority area
Table 18D
Net movement of non-students aged 16-64 into (out of) Edinburgh from (to) its neighbouring local authority areas
Table 19A
People who moved into the Shetland Islands from selected local authority areas
Table 19B
People who moved out of the Shetland Islands to selected local authority areas
Table 19C
Net movement into (out of) the Shetland Islands to selected local authority areas
Table 20A
People who moved into South Lanarkshire from some neighbouring local authority areas
Table 20B
People who moved out of South Lanarkshire to some neighbouring local authority areas
Table 20C
Net movement into (out of) South Lanarkshire from some neighbouring local authority areas
Table 21
Migrants who moved between Scottish addresses by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and one year before the Census (row percentages)
Table 22
Migrants who moved between Scottish addresses by the local authority area they lived in at Census time and one year before the Census (column percentages)

Maps

Map
Local Authorities in Scotland by whether, in the year before the 2001 Census, they gained or lost people from/to the rest of Scotland and the rest of the UK
(Map)(818Kb pdf file)

Introduction

1.         The report “Scotland’s Population 2003 : The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends” (published July 2004) said that GROS planned to make available further information on migration, particularly at local authority area level. This occasional paper presents a wide range of tables analysing migration at that level and also looks at migration to and from (and within) categories of urban and rural areas.
 
2.         All the analyses in this paper have come from the 2001 Census. The Census asked people to say where they had lived one year before, and their replies gave details about migrants by various characteristics and geographical areas.

Summary of Scottish Migration

3.         587,000 people resident in Scotland at the time of the Census (almost 12 per cent of the population) had moved address in the previous year. Around 474,000 had moved from another Scottish address, while 48,000 had moved from elsewhere in the United Kingdom and 29,000 from abroad. The remaining migrants (around 36,500) had reported themselves as having “no usual address one year ago”.
 
4.         A quarter of migrants within Scotland moved between different council areas.
 
5.         The number of migrants who came to Scotland from the rest of the UK was approximately the same as the number of migrants who moved in the opposite direction.
 
6.         Nine local authority areas gained people from both the rest of Scotland and the rest of the UK. These areas were mainly located in the east and south east of the country.
 
7.         Most of the rural local authority areas in the west and south west gained people from the rest of the UK but lost to the rest of Scotland.
 
8.         Scotland had a net loss to London of around 900 people. This was mainly as a result of losses from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
 
9.         The countries which accounted for the most number of migrants from abroad were the United States, Germany, Australia and France.
 
10.     While 74 per cent of the Scottish population were aged between 16 and 74, a somewhat higher proportion (81 per cent) of migrants who moved between Scottish local authority areas were in this age group.
 
11.     There were almost twice as many Scots born people living in England as English born people living in Scotland. Two thirds of this difference was accounted for by people aged 45 and over, reflecting high levels of out-migration from Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s.
 
12.     Substantially more students came from the rest of the UK to Scotland to study (7,724) than moved in the other direction (5,100).
 
13.     Almost 30 per cent of migrants who moved between Scottish addresses moved between areas with different urban/rural classifications e.g. someone moving from a large urban area to a remote rural area.
 
14.     For moves between Scottish urban/rural areas, it was large urban areas which gained the most number of young adults.
 
15.     Rural areas were the main gainers of migrants from the rest of the UK.
 
16.     Migrants from the rest of the UK tended to be around the same age as people moving within Scotland. However, those moving into remote areas from the rest of the UK were substantially older than those who moved to these areas from other parts of Scotland.
 
17.     Migrants from Scotland to the rest of the UK were around 1¼ years younger than those moving from the rest of the UK to Scotland.

Commentary

18.     There are four separate sections in this paper:
  • Section 1 contains analyses of data, mainly at Scottish local authority level, although some analyses are done at overall Scotland level. The vast majority of migration moves involve people moving within a local area, but the main purpose of this section (and indeed most of the paper) is to look at the characteristics of those who make longer-distance moves. Migrants who move across local authority boundaries are the best proxy for analysing longer-distance moves, as the relatively low number (32) of local authority areas in Scotland make it feasible to do this in this paper. There will, of course, be some moves which would naturally be thought of as long-distance but which will not show up in any analyses of moves across local authority boundaries (e. g. a migrant who moves from Wick to Inverness). By contrast, some moves which may be thought of as fairly short-distance ones (e.g. a move from Kilmarnock to Irvine) will show up in such analyses as they involve the crossing of a local authority boundary. Despite this, local authority areas are of sufficiently suitable size that information at this level of geography gives the most meaningful picture of longer-distance moves.
  • Section 2 looks at the breakdown of various migrant groups by six different urban/rural classifications, as used in the Scottish Household Survey. The definition of these groups can be found in the Appendix, towards the back of this paper. Most of the information in this section focuses on people who have moved from one area type to another. As a result, such analyses will exclude some people making long-distance moves (e.g. someone moving from the centre of Glasgow to the centre of Aberdeen) and include some people making short moves (e.g. someone moving from, say, the outskirts of Edinburgh to a village a short distance away).
  • Section 3 contains a case study looking in more detail at in/out migration to/from three selected Scottish local authority areas.
  • Section 4 has detailed matrices giving a breakdown, for all migrants who moved between Scottish addresses, by which local authority area they moved out of and which one they moved into.

Section 1 - Local Authority (and Scotland) level analysis

Migration within Scotland (Tables 1A-1C, Charts 1A -1C and Map 1)

19.     Around 474,000 people (9.4 per cent of the Scottish population at Census date) moved between Scottish addresses in the year before the Census.
 
20.     Of these, 113,824 (2.2 per cent of the Scottish population) moved from one local authority area to another (Table 1A & Table 1B) - the rest moved to a different address in the same area.
21.     The majority (54 per cent) of migrants who moved across local authority boundaries were aged between 16 and 34 while only 9 per cent were aged 55 and over.
 
22.     There were only 9 local authority areas which had a net loss to the rest of Scotland of under 16s (Table 1C). The vast majority (96 per cent) of this loss was accounted for by the 4 main cities, which lost around 3,100 people in this age group, mainly to the surrounding commuter areas.
 
23.     Only the 4 main cities, plus Stirling and Falkirk, gained people aged 16-24. The main cities gained a total of 9,800 people in this age group. Further analysis showed that over 85 per cent of this gain in the main cities was accounted for by student migration.
 
24.     All 4 main cities exported people to the rest of Scotland in each of the age groups from age 25 upwards. This total loss was 6,600 people. The biggest losses per 1,000 population, for those aged 25 and over, were for Aberdeen City and City of Edinburgh, while the biggest gains were for West Lothian and Scottish Borders.
 
25.      In-migration from other parts of Scotland varied from 37, 34 and 31 per 1,000 population in Stirling, East Renfrewshire and Aberdeen City respectively, to 12 in the Orkney Islands and 11 in Dumfries and Galloway (Chart 1A).
 
26.     The local authority areas with most out-migration (Chart 1B) were again Stirling, Aberdeen City and East Renfrewshire (33, 32 and 31 per 1,000 population, respectively) with the lowest again Dumfries and Galloway (13).
 
27.     Generally speaking, the local authority areas which had high (or low) rates of in-migration from the rest of Scotland also had high (or low) out-migration. The exceptions either had higher than average levels of in-migration (e.g. West Lothian and Scottish Borders) or out-migration (e.g Eilean Siar, Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands). Charts 1A-1C reflect this.
 
28.     Thirteen local authority areas gained migrants from elsewhere in Scotland, with West Lothian showing the biggest net gain per 1,000 population, followed by Scottish Borders, Stirling, Falkirk and Perth & Kinross (Chart 1C). Of the remaining 19 areas, the biggest net losses were in Orkney Islands, Eilean Siar and Shetland Islands, where there was a net loss of more than 10 per 1,000 population, i.e. more than 1 per cent.

Migration between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom
(Tables 2A-2C, Charts 2A -2C and Map 1)

29.     In the year before the Census, just under 48,000 people moved to Scotland from other parts of the United Kingdom (Table 2A). Approximately the same number moved in the opposite direction (Table 2B), resulting in a small gain to Scotland of around 60 people (Table 2C).
 
30.     The age profile of those moving to Scotland from the rest of the UK is very similar to those moving between Scottish local authorities, with 53 per cent aged between 16 and 34 and 10 per cent aged 55 and over (Table 2A).
 
31.     However, for those moving from Scotland to the rest of the UK, a higher proportion (59%) were aged 16-34 and fewer (7%) were 55 and over (Table 2B).
 

32.     There was a loss to the rest of the UK of around 1,500 people aged 16-24 (Table 2C). Only six areas gained migrants of this age, including 3 of the 4 main cities. Edinburgh saw by far the biggest gain of over 1,100 people. Further analysis showed that Edinburgh’s net in-migration consisted of a gain of almost 2,000 full-time students and a loss of approximately 850 non-students.

33.     In the 25-34 age group, just seven areas gained from the rest of the UK. As a result, there was a loss of almost 1,200 people of this age, mostly from the 4 main cities.

34.     The areas which gained the most 25-34 year olds were Argyll & Bute, Moray and West Lothian. An analysis of these gains by occupation (which is not included within this paper) showed that the gains in Argyll & Bute and Moray were largely armed forces personnel.
 
35.     There was a gain from the rest of the UK of over 2,400 people aged 35 and over. 23 of the 32 local authority areas showed a gain for this age category, with the biggest gains in the rural areas (Highland, Dumfries & Galloway, Argyll & Bute and Scottish Borders). The largest losses per 1,000 population for 35 and overs were in Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire and East Dunbartonshire.
 
36.     The number of migrants who moved between Scotland and the rest of the UK represented around 9½ people per 1,000 population (Chart 2A).
 
37.     In-migration to Scottish local authority areas from elsewhere in the UK varied  from 24, 23 and 21 per 1,000 population in Moray, Argyll & Bute and City of Edinburgh, respectively, to 3 in West Dunbartonshire.
 
38.     The largest proportions of out-migration (Chart 2B) were again in Moray, City of Edinburgh and Argyll & Bute (22, 19 and 16 per 1,000 population, respectively) with the lowest in West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (5).
 
39.     Generally speaking, local authority areas which had high (or low) rates of in-migration with the rest of the UK also had high (or low) levels of out-migration.
 
40.     Just over half of local authority areas (17) gained migrants from elsewhere in the UK (Chart 2C). By far the biggest gain was in Argyll & Bute, with a gain of around 8 people per 1,000 population. There were also substantial gains for Highland, Stirling and City of Edinburgh. The area which experienced the biggest net loss was the Shetland Islands (almost 5 people per 1,000 population), with substantial losses in East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire and Aberdeen City. By contrast to the Shetland Islands, Eilean Siar and the Orkney Islands gained migrants from the rest of the UK.

Migration between Scotland and the regions of the United Kingdom (Table 3A-3C)

41.     Table 3C shows that Scotland gained the most number of migrants from Yorkshire & the Humber (787) and West Midlands (359). The greatest losses were to South West England (265) and London (876).
 
42.     City of Edinburgh gained migrants from every region of the UK except London and Northern Ireland. By contrast, Glasgow lost migrants to all UK regions apart from two – North West England and Northern Ireland.
 
43.     Three local authority areas, namely East Renfrewshire, Perth & Kinross and West Dunbartonshire, lost migrants to every UK region except one. By contrast, Stirling lost migrants to only one UK region (East Midlands).
 
44.     While nearly 900 migrants were lost to London, more local authority areas gained people from London (19) than lost people (12). However, the losses were fairly large in City of Edinburgh, Aberdeen City and Glasgow City (340, 321 and 301 people, respectively).
 
45.     Almost all of Scotland’s gain from Yorkshire & the Humber was as a result of the gain made by City of Edinburgh.

Migration from abroad (Tables 4 & 5 and Chart 3)

46.     In the year before the Census, just under 29,000 people moved to Scotland from outside the United Kingdom (Table 4).
 
47.     The Census cannot take account of those who lived abroad at the time of the Census but who lived in Scotland one year before, since they did not, of course, complete a UK Census form.
 
48.     The age profile of people moving to Scotland from abroad (Table 4) is different from those moving between Scottish local authorities (Table 1A) or from the rest of the UK (Table 2A). 62 per cent of migrants from abroad were aged 16-34, much higher than the comparable figures (in earlier paragraphs 21 and 31). By contrast, only 4 per cent of foreign migrants were aged 55 and over, much lower than the domestic migrants (in paragraphs 21 and 31).
 
49.     Just over three quarters of migrants to Edinburgh from abroad were aged 16-34. Further analysis has shown that half of these 16-34 year olds who moved to Edinburgh were full-time students.
 
50.     For Dundee City and Glasgow City, 72 and 70 per cent, respectively, of migrants from abroad were aged 16-34 while, at the other end of the scale, this figure was 34 per cent in Aberdeenshire.
 
51.     City of Edinburgh and Aberdeen City had the highest number of migrants from abroad relative to population (respectively, 17 and 13 per 1,000 population) while East Ayrshire had the lowest, with 1 per 1,000 population (Chart 3).
 
52.     43 per cent of migrants to Scotland from abroad came from elsewhere in Europe, with Germany, France, Spain and the Republic of Ireland providing the largest number (Table 5). 21 per cent came from Asia with a further 15, 11 and 9 per cent from North America, Oceania and Africa, respectively.
 
53.     More migrants (10 per cent) came from the United States than any other country.
 
54.     A quarter of migrants coming from abroad were Scots born. This proportion varied greatly depending on the country of origin. 40 per cent of people coming in from Australia were Scots whereas only 3 per cent of those coming in from India were.
Migrants by type of migrant and age group (Chart 4)
 
55.     Of all migrants living in Scotland in 2001 who moved across a local authority or country boundary, 60 per cent moved within Scotland with a further 25 and 15 per cent moving from the rest of the UK and from abroad, respectively.
 
56.     These percentages varied little across age groups in the 0-54 range. For migrants aged 55-64, a higher proportion moved from elsewhere in the UK and a lower proportion from abroad.
 
57.     A much greater proportion of migrants aged 65 and over moved within Scotland, at the roughly equal expense of both migrants from the rest of the UK and migrants from abroad.

Migrants within Scotland aged 16-74 by economic activity (Tables 6A-6C & 7 and Chart 5)

58.     Out of the 113,824 migrants who moved between Scottish local authorities, 92,396 were aged between 16 and 74 (Table 6A).
 
59.     18 per cent of the migrants aged 16-74 were full-time students at the time of the Census. A further 22 per cent were non-students who were either unemployed or economically inactive, with the remaining 60 per cent non-students who were working. Figures in Table 1A, Table 1B and Table 10 illustrate that, of the 31,989 migrants aged 16-24, 14,784 (46 per cent) were full-time students.
 
60.     The only 5 areas to gain students from other areas were the 4 main cities plus Stirling, all university areas (Table 6C).
 
61.     The main losers of employed people were the 4 main cities.
 
62.     The biggest gainers overall (per 1,000 population) of people aged 16-74 were West Lothian and Falkirk while it was Shetland Islands, Eilean Siar and Orkney Islands which lost the most (Chart 5).
 
63.     While Chart 5 shows a similar pattern for many local authority areas to Chart 1C (migrants of all ages), in some cases there were marked differences. For example, while Glasgow had a small net out-migration to the rest of Scotland for all people, it had the fourth largest level for in-migration of people aged 16-74. This reflects the fact that Glasgow has the highest level of out-migration for those aged 75 & over and one of the highest levels of out-migration for the under 16s.
 
64.     Table 7 splits up migrants who were in employment by whether they worked in the area they lived in at Census time, whether they worked in the area they lived in one year prior to the Census or whether they worked in neither of these areas. At Scotland level, 55 per cent of migrants in employment worked in the area they lived in at Census time, while the remainder were split more or less equally between the other two categories.
 
65.     At local authority level, a very high proportion of employed migrants (over 80 per cent) who moved to Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, Eilean Siar, Highland, Aberdeen City and City of Edinburgh from elsewhere in Scotland also worked there at Census time. For Aberdeen and Edinburgh, this is likely to reflect housing pressures (e.g. availability, cost) resulting in few people moving into these areas in order to commute out of them. For the Highlands and Islands areas, the workforce is more stable and there are fewer opportunities for commuting into work in these areas.
 
66.     By contrast, in West Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Midlothian, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire, less than a third of employed migrants also worked there. This reflects the fact that these are commuter belt areas for either Glasgow or Edinburgh.
 
67.     More than half of the employed migrants into Midlothian worked in the area from which they had moved in the previous year. Almost all of these had moved from City of Edinburgh.
 
68.     Almost 4 in 10 employed migrants into Falkirk worked neither in Falkirk nor in the area in which they previously lived. Further analysis (not included in this paper) showed that more than half of these people worked in either Glasgow or Edinburgh at the time of the Census.

Migrants between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom aged 16-74 by economic activity (Table 8)

69.     13 local authority areas gained people aged 16-74 from the rest of the UK (Table 8), with the largest gain (of more than 1 per cent of the population) in Argyll & Bute.
 
70.     The remaining 19 areas showed losses with the largest, proportionate to population, in the Shetland Islands. At the Scotland level, there was a small loss of around 400 people to the rest of the UK.

Country of birth (Tables 9A-9C)

71.     While all other tables in this paper focus on people who had moved house in the year before the Census, Table 9A looks at a different (much larger) group of people. It compares Scots born people living elsewhere in the UK (most of whom would have moved out of Scotland more than one year before the Census) with those living in Scotland at Census time who moved there from England, Wales or Northern Ireland at some point in their lives.
 
72.     There were almost twice as many Scottish born people living in England as there are English born living in Scotland (Table 9A).
 
73.     This varied with age, with hardly any difference for children aged under 15.
 
74.     There were, however, more than 2½ times as many Scots born people aged 65 and over in England as there are English born of the same age living in Scotland. This equates to a difference of around 98,000 people, which is 12 per cent of the over 65 population of Scotland. These statistics most likely reflect the fact that there were high levels of net out-migration from Scotland in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
 
75.     The position with Wales is similar to England but less marked. There were more Scots born people living in Wales than Welsh born living in Scotland for every age group. This difference is most marked for 65-74 year olds where there were more than twice as many Scots born people in Wales as there were Welsh born living in Scotland.
 
76.     By contrast, there were twice as many people born in Northern Ireland and living in Scotland as there were Scots born people living in Northern Ireland. There were more people in Scotland for every age group, except the under 16s. For those aged 16-24, there were almost four times as many Northern Irish born people living in Scotland as there were Scots born living in Northern Ireland. A major contributor to this was the large number of Northern Irish students who come to study in Scotland – almost ¾ of Northern Ireland born people aged 16-24 who were living in Scotland were full-time students.
 
77.     Table 9B and Table 9C look at migrants who moved into or out of Scotland from/to the other UK countries and who were either born in Scotland or the other UK country which they moved from/to. Table 9B shows that while over 23,000 English-born people moved to Scotland from England, only 19,000 Scots‑born people moved in the other direction.
 
78.     However, while 18,000 English-born people left Scotland to return to England, only 14,500 Scots-born people came back to Scotland from south of the border (Table 9C). This trend may reflect former students returning home after the completion of their studies.

Student migrants (Table 10)

79.     There were just over 32,000 people who moved across a local authority or country boundary and who were full-time students at the time of the Census. Just over half of these moved between Scottish local authorities, with students moving from the rest of the UK and students moving from abroad each accounting for around a quarter of the total.
 
80.     89 per cent of the student migrants who moved to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK were aged 16-24. A slightly lower proportion of students who moved in the opposite direction (82 per cent) were in this age group. Only 70 per cent of students who came from abroad were in that age group.
 
81.     As a result, the average age of foreign migrant students was 24, compared to 21 and 22 for those who moved to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK and from Scotland to the rest of the UK, respectively.

Migrants by housing tenure at the time of the Census (Table 11A-C)

82.     Table 11A, Table 11B and Table 11C, like other earlier tables, contains figures for in, out and net migration for each council area. It should, however, be pointed out that, in these particular tables, migrants can only be classified by their housing tenure at the time of the Census, which may differ from the tenure of their address one year before.
 
83.     Out of the 92,396 migrants aged 16-74 who moved between Scottish local authorities, 82,647 lived in households at the time of the Census (Table 11A).
 
84.     60 per cent of these migrants were owner occupiers at the time of the Census, with almost 30 per cent living in private rented accommodation.
 
85.     Migrants into East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire were the most likely to be owner occupiers, with over 80 per cent of migrants falling into this category.
 
86.     People who moved into the 4 main cities and Orkney and Shetland were the most likely to move to private rented accommodation in their new areas of residence. West Dunbartonshire was the area which had by far the highest proportion (27 per cent) of its in-migrants moving into social rented accommodation.
 
87.     People who moved out of East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire were again among the likeliest to be owner occupiers (Table 11B). However, it was those who moved out of City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City who were the most likely to move to an owner occupied household, with over 70 per cent of migrants from these two largest cities coming into this category.
 
88.     Between them, the 4 main cities lost a net 7,100 migrants who were owner occupiers at the time of the Census (Table 11C).
 
89.     By contrast, there was a net flow of 6,500 migrants who were in private rented accommodation at the time of the Census into the 4 main cities. All other areas showed a net outflow.
 
90.     Net levels of migration for people in the social rented sector were substantially lower than for the other two sectors.

Section 2 - Analysis by Scottish Household Survey urban/rural classification

Migrants who moved between Scottish addresses (Tables 12, 13A-13C and Chart 6)
91.     Of the 473,789 people who moved between Scottish addresses in the year before the Census, 139,226 (29 per cent) moved between areas with different urban/rural classifications (Table 12 and Table 13A).
 
92.     Just over 10 per cent of those living in large urban areas at Census time were migrants. 84 per cent of these migrants had lived elsewhere within large urban areas one year before (Table 12).
 
93.     Slightly under 9 per cent of those living in accessible rural areas at Census time were migrants. However, only 42 per cent of those migrants had lived in accessible rural areas one year before.
 
94.     49 per cent of migrants who moved between Scottish areas with different urban/rural classifications were aged between 16 and 34, with 11 per cent aged 55 and over (Table 13A).
 
95.     As seen in Chart 6, the type of area which gained most was accessible rural areas, gaining around 5 people per 1,000 population while it was remote rural areas which lost the most (almost 8 people per 1,000 population).
 
96.     Accessible rural areas gained people of all age groups except those aged 16-24 (Table 13C).
 
97.     All of the other area types lost people in the 16-24 age group to the large urban areas.
 
98.     Large urban areas showed only a small net loss of migrants, with a large gain of 16-24 year olds being offset by losses of all other age groups.
 
99.     Other urban areas also showed a small net loss, with gains of those aged 15 & under and 35 & over being more than offset by a loss of those aged 16-34.
 
100.  The net loss of 2,200 people in remote rural areas was almost completely accounted for by the large net loss of those aged 16-24.
Migration between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom (Table 14A-14C and Chart 6)
101.  It was mainly the accessible rural and remote rural areas which made net gains from the rest of the UK. These rural areas gained around 2,800 people and gained in every age group, except 16-24 (Table 14C).
 
102.  Other urban areas lost around 1 person per 1,000 population (Chart 6), mainly as a result of losses in the 16-34 age group.
 
103.  Despite a large gain in 16-24 year olds, losses in all other age groups led to a net loss for large urban areas (Table 14C).
 
104.  While remote rural areas had net out-migration with the rest of Scotland, they experienced a net gain from the rest of the UK. For all of the other 5 area types, the two flows were in the same direction (Chart 6).
Migration to Scotland from abroad (Table 15)
105.  While only 24 per cent of migrants who moved between Scottish addresses with different urban/rural classifications moved into large urban areas (Table 13A), and 41 per cent of those who moved from the rest of the UK did so (Table 14A), the figure for migrants from abroad was much higher, at 60 per cent (Table 15).
 
106.  For people moving into rural areas, these figures were 31, 28 and 14 per cent, respectively.
Average age of migrants (Table 16 and Chart 7)
107.  Migrants from the rest of the United Kingdom were, on average, around the same age (30) as those who moved between Scottish addresses with different urban/rural classifications (Table 16). Migrants from abroad were, on average, slightly younger at 27.
 
108.  People moving out of Scotland to the rest of the UK were around 1¼ years younger than those moving in the opposite direction.
 
109.  The youngest migrants were those moving into large urban areas, who averaged around 26 or 27 years old, regardless of where they moved from.
 
110.  The oldest migrants were those moving into remote areas. This was particularly so for those moving from the rest of the UK, with migrants moving into remote small towns and remote rural areas having an average age of 36 and 37, respectively.
 
111.  People who moved from large urban areas to other parts of Scotland were 4 years older than those moving into these areas. By contrast, movers out of remote small towns were 3 years younger than those moving in.
 
112.  Migrants to and from the rest of the UK who moved into remote small towns and remote rural areas in Scotland were almost 5 years younger on average than those moving out of these areas to England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
 
113.  The background to the higher average age of migrants moving from the rest of the UK into remote small towns and remote rural areas is illustrated in Chart 7. For migrants into remote rural areas, 29 per cent of those moving from the rest of the UK were aged 45-64, while this proportion was much lower (18 per cent) for those moving from within Scotland and those moving from outside the UK.

Section 3 - Case study of migration into / out of three local authority areas from / to other areas in Scotland

114.  This section looks at within-Scotland migration in the year before the 2001 Census in three local authority areas which have been selected because they are very different from one another. One is a city area, another a predominantly rural area and the other a mixture of urban and rural.

City of Edinburgh (Tables 17 & 18A-18D)

115.  In net terms, City of Edinburgh gained 110 people from the rest of Scotland (Table 17).
 
116.  The biggest gains were from Aberdeen City, Highland and Aberdeenshire – almost 1,100 people were gained from these areas.
 
117.  The biggest losses were to 5 areas which border the city or are relatively close to it, namely West Lothian, East Lothian, Midlothian, Fife and Scottish Borders. 2,157 people were lost to these areas. Table 18A, Table 18B, Table 18C and Table 18D provide detailed breakdowns of the migration to/from these areas.
 
118.  Although Edinburgh gained full-time students from each of these neighbouring areas, it lost large numbers of non-students, both those employed and those not in employment (Table 18C) (the Census cannot ascertain whether or not people who were “non-students” at the time of the Census had been full-time students one year previously).
 
119.  Table 18D shows the net flow of 16-64 year olds who were not students, by the type of household they lived in at the time of the Census, which may differ from the type of household they lived in one year before. Those who left Edinburgh for the commuter areas tended to live in couple households, both with and without dependent children.
 
120.  Of the 4,249 non-student migrants who moved out of Edinburgh to these areas and who were in employment at the time of the Census (Table 18B), 2,633 (62 per cent) commuted to work in Edinburgh. This figure was highest for Midlothian and East Lothian (71 and 70 per cent, respectively) and lowest for Fife (54 per cent) and Scottish Borders (51 per cent).

Shetland Islands (Tables 17 & 19A-19C)

121.  Shetland Islands lost a net 235 people to the rest of Scotland (Table 17).
 
122.  The main losses were to Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City. Therefore, Table 19A, Table 19B and Table 19C look at the situation for these areas in more detail.
 
123.  The net loss to Aberdeen City, City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City amounted to 147 people (Table 19C) – almost entirely explained by the movement of students.
 
124.  The net loss of 64 people to Aberdeenshire was accounted for by net losses of around 30 in people aged 0-15 and non-students in employment.

South Lanarkshire (Tables 17 & 20A-20C)

125.  South Lanarkshire gained a net 419 people from the rest of Scotland (Table 17).
 
126.  The largest gains came from Glasgow City (792 people) and North Lanarkshire (145 people). As there was no one particular area which South Lanarkshire lost a large number of people to, Table 20A, Table 20B and Table 20C focus on migration to and from these two areas.
 
127.  As would be expected, there was a net loss to Glasgow City (210) of full-time students (Table 20C). However, there were large gains of people not aged 16-64 (426) and non-students aged 16-64 (475).
 
128.  Table 20A, Table 20B and Table 20C provide a breakdown by whether or not employed non-student migrants worked in Glasgow. The reason for this is because a large number of people in South Lanarkshire (and also North Lanarkshire) commuted to Glasgow.
 
129.  Of the 1,324 employed non-student migrants who moved into South Lanarkshire from Glasgow, 690 (52 per cent) worked in Glasgow at Census time (Table 20A). While fewer (849) non-student migrants moved from Glasgow to South Lanarkshire, a higher proportion of these (71 per cent) worked in Glasgow (Table 20B).
 
130.  There were 1,400 employed non-student migrants who either moved from North to South Lanarkshire or from South to North Lanarkshire (Table 20A and Table 20B). Just over 20 per cent worked in the Glasgow City area at the time of the Census.

Section 4 - Moves between Scottish addresses (Tables 21 and 22)

131.  Table 21 and Table 22 show, for migrants who moved between Scottish addresses, the area where they lived at Census time and the area where they lived one year before the Census.
 
132.  Table 21 provides a percentage breakdown, for each area, of the migrants who lived in that area at Census time by which area they lived in a year before. So, for example, 4.7 per cent of migrants living in Fife at the time of the Census had lived in City of Edinburgh one year earlier.
 
133.  Table 22 provides a similar breakdown for each area, but this time for the migrants who lived in each area one year before the Census (and still lived in Scotland). So, for example, 19.1 per cent of migrants who lived in East Renfrewshire a year before the Census were living in Glasgow City by the time of the Census.
 
134.  Some of the main points of interest in Table 21 and Table 22 are:
  • While 76 per cent of migrants who moved between Scottish addresses remained within the same council area, this varied greatly from area to area (see cells in bold type on the diagonal of both tables).
  • Table 21 shows that the local authority where the highest proportion of “within Scotland” migrants had lived there a year before was Orkney Islands (87.0 per cent). This means that 87.0 per cent of people who had moved from an address anywhere in Scotland to an address in Orkney had moved within Orkney, with the remaining 13.0 per cent having moved into Orkney from another part of Scotland. A similar picture is observed in Dumfries & Galloway where 86.8 per cent of “within Scotland” migrants had lived elsewhere in the council area a year previously. This is consistent with the fact that the number of migrants per head of population who came into Orkney Islands and Dumfries & Galloway from elsewhere in Scotland was lower than for any other local authority areas (Chart 1A). This may reflect the fact that, due to its location, Dumfries & Galloway attracts a high number of migrants from the rest of the UK, a fact given further weight by Chart 2A.
  • East Renfrewshire had the lowest proportion of “within Scotland” migrants who lived there one year previously (50.3 per cent). This means that, of East Renfrewshire residents at the time of Census who had moved address within the year before the Census, only just over half had moved from elsewhere in East Renfrewshire. Almost 30 per cent of “within Scotland” migrants living in East Renfrewshire at Census time had moved there from Glasgow City. A similar picture was seen in East Dunbartonshire, with 56.9 per cent of “within Scotland” migrants having lived there one year before and a further quarter having come from Glasgow City.
  • Table 22 differs from Table 21 in that, while Table 21 breaks “within Scotland” migrants down by where they lived at Census time, Table 22 breaks them down by where they lived one year before. 84.3 per cent of people who lived in Dumfries & Galloway one year before the Census and who had moved to another Scottish address prior to Census time had remained within Dumfries and Galloway. This proportion was the highest of all the local authorities, although the figure for Fife of 83.9 per cent was also high. The local authority with the lowest proportion was East Renfrewshire (52.1 per cent). Of the “within Scotland” migrants who lived in East Renfrewshire one year before the Census, just under 1 in 5 had moved to Glasgow City in the year before the Census. East Dunbartonshire displayed a similar pattern to East Renfrewshire.

Appendix

2001 Census Background

The Census itself

The Census was designed to collect information on the resident population on Census Day - 29 April 2001. Copies of the Census forms used are available on the Census pages of this website.
 
The Census questions asked of all people covered:
  • sex, age (date of birth) and marital status
  • relationship to others in the household (where applicable)
  • whether schoolchild/student
  • whether term-time address
  • country of birth
  • ethnic group
  • religion - current and upbringing
  • health
  • limiting long-term illness
  • provision of unpaid care
  • address one year ago
  • address of place of work or study
  • means of travel to work or study
  • knowledge of Gaelic
and questions for those aged 16 to 74 also covered:
  • qualifications
  • economic activity and employment status
  • number of employees at place of work
  • year since last employed
  • occupation and industry of employment
  • hours worked
and, in addition, the person filling in the form in each household was asked about:
  • type of accommodation and whether self-contained
  • number of rooms
  • availability of bath/shower and toilet
  • lowest floor level
  • presence of central heating
  • availability of cars or vans
  • tenure
  • landlord
  • whether or not accommodation was rented as furnished

Census Coverage Survey

The 1991 Census suffered from a degree of undercount (with some people and households being missed), the extent and nature of which was not identified by the 1991 Census Validation Survey. As a result the detailed 1991 Census tables were not consistent with the final estimate of 1991 Census Day population. To avoid a similar situation following the 2001 Census, the Census itself was supplemented by the Census Coverage Survey (CCS).
 
The 2001 CCS was an intensive enumeration of a representative sample of postcodes in Scotland and was designed to be independent of the Census and provide the required data to estimate underenumeration. More detail on the conduct of the Census is available on the Census pages of this website.

Quality of the Results

The use of the methodology means that the results of the 2001 Census cover the entire population of Scotland, and are believed to be the most reliable results obtained by any Census in Scotland. However, there are a number of potential sources of error in the results. These include:
  • Incorrect or incomplete information provided on the forms.
  • Sampling error related to estimates derived from the CCS.
  • Unidentified dependencies between the Census and the CCS.
  • Errors introduced during processing and imputation.
Some elements of incorrect information and biases will have been corrected during the editing process. Following this, the results have undergone an extensive quality assurance process, including checks against aggregated administrative information on particular groups such as students and the armed forces. Elements of dependency between the Census and Census Coverage Survey have been identified and corrected for, by cross-checking with alternative data sources.
 
Since the adjustments for underenumeration are estimates based on a sample survey, sampling errors can be used as a guide in assessing the accuracy of the adjustments. The sampling error can be used to construct a 95 per cent confidence interval - that is a range in which we can be 95 per cent confident that the true value lies. For the population of Scotland, this confidence interval is ± 0.3 per cent of the estimated population.

Confidentiality

The Registrar General has a legal obligation not to reveal information collected in the Census about individual people and households. Protecting the Census data is of key importance and steps have been taken to safeguard confidentiality and protect against disclosure of personal information provided on the Census form. Further information is given in ‘Scotland’s Census – A guide to the results and how to obtain them’ – which is available on the Census pages of this website or by contacting Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.

Definitions

Urban/rural classification

The classification used in this paper is the six-fold urban/rural classification for 2001 used in the Scottish Household Survey. This is based on settlement size and remoteness (measured by drive times). Areas have been classified as follows:
  • Large urban areas – the city conurbations of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee (settlements of 125,000 population and over).
  • Other urban areas – settlements of at least 10,000 and less than 125,000 population.
  • Accessible small towns – settlements of at least 3,000 and less than 10,000 population which are within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.
  • Remote small towns – settlements of at least 3,000 and less than 10,000 population which are more than 30 minutes drive from a settlement of 10,000 or more.
  • Accessible rural – settlements of less than 3,000 population which are within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.
  • Remote rural – settlements of less than 3,000 population which are more than 30 minutes drive from a settlement of 10,000 or more.
Isolated houses and hamlets are included in settlements of less than 3,000 people.

Migrants

The Census in Scotland, as well as the Censuses in England & Wales and Northern Ireland, asked people to provide details of what their usual address was one year before the Census. Respondents could tick one of three boxes to indicate that they either:
  • Lived at the same address one year before as they lived at Census time, or
  • Had no usual address one year before, or
  • Lived elsewhere one year before.
People who said they had lived elsewhere one year before were asked to write in this address. A migrant is someone who either had lived elsewhere or had no usual address one year before.
 
For children aged under one year old and living in a household at the time of the Census, their migrant status was determined by the migrant status of their ‘next of kin’ (defined as, in order of preference, mother, father, sibling (with nearest age), other related person, household reference person). Children under one who lived in a communal establishment at the time of the Census were classified as having no usual address one year before.

Populations Covered in this Paper

All of the tables in this paper relate to people who said on their Census form that they had lived elsewhere one year before the Census (those with no usual address one year before are not included in any of the tables). However, different tables contain different subsets of this group of migrants. Some examples of the subsets used are:
  • All migrants who moved between Scottish addresses.
  • All migrants who moved between addresses in different Scottish local authority areas.
  • Migrants aged 16-74 who moved between addresses in different Scottish local authority area.
  • All migrants to Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
  • All migrants to Scotland from abroad.
  • People born in Scotland but living elsewhere in the UK and those living in Scotland but born elsewhere in the UK.
  • All migrants who moved between areas with different urban/rural classifications.

People

In the 2001 Census, information was collected only on “usual residents”. A usual resident at an address is generally defined as someone who spends most of their time living at that address. It includes:
  • People who usually live at the address but are temporarily away from home (on holiday, visiting friends or relatives or temporarily in a hospital or similar establishment) on Census Day.
  • A spouse or partner who works away from home for part of the time, or is a member of the armed forces.
  • Students at their term-time address.
  • A baby born before 30th April 2001, even if he/she is still in hospital.
  • People present on Census Day, even if temporarily, who have no other usual address.
However, it does not include:
  • Anyone present at an address on Census Day whose “usual” address is elsewhere.
  • Anyone away from their home address, living in a special establishment such as a residential home, nursing home or hospital for six months or more (such people are enumerated as usually resident at the special establishment).

More Information on Definitions

More detailed information on definitions used in the 2001 Census can be found in the “Census 2001 Definitions” publication, produced by the three UK Census Offices. This publication can be found on this website.

Contacts

Further information about the Census products, or assistance in finding the appropriate data or requests for additional data not part of the Census products, can be obtained from Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.
 

Page last updated: 21 April 2008


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