Population
The estimated population of Scotland on 30 June 2009 was 5,194,000.
The population of Scotland grew by around 25,500 in the 12 months between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009, an increase of 0.5%.
The increase in the population in the 12 months between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009 was mainly due to:
The age of the population of Scotland was as follows.
Scotland’s population has been fairly stable over the past 50 years. It peaked at 5.24 million in 1974 before falling to 5.05 million in 2002. It then increased each year to reach 5.19 million in 2009. The increase has mainly been the result of more people moving to Scotland than leaving.
There are differences in the changes in the population across Scotland. In the 10 years from 1999 to 2009, the council areas which had the highest population increases and reductions were as follows.
In the 10 years from 1999 to 2009, the population grew older. The number of children under 16 reduced by 8% and the number of people aged 75 and over increased by 14%.
Current projections (estimates for future years largely based on past trends) suggest that the population of Scotland will rise to 5.54 million by 2033 and that the population will age significantly, with the number of people aged 60 and over increasing by 50%, from 1.17 million to 1.75 million.
Migration (people moving into and out of the country)
Since the 1950s, more people have tended to leave Scotland than move here. However, since 2002, this has changed.
In the year to 30 June 2009, the number of people moving to Scotland from other parts of the UK, and out of Scotland to other parts of the UK were as follows.
This migration of people increased the population by around 4,100 people.
In the year to 30 June 2009, the number of people moving to Scotland from overseas, and out of Scotland to go overseas were as follows.
This migration of people increased the population by around 17,500 people – a record high.
Most people moving to and from Scotland are young – between 16 and 34. As a result of people moving to and from the rest of the UK, Scotland’s population was boosted for every broad age group. Moves to and from overseas countries meant that the numbers of people in every age group up to 35 increased.
Births
There were 59,046 births registered in Scotland in 2009.
There were 995 (2%) fewer births in 2009 than in 2008. The number of births had increased in each of the previous six years.
The average age of mothers has increased from 27.4 in 1991 to 29.4 in 2009. Similarly, the average age of fathers has increased from 30 in 1991 to 32.3 in 2009.
The percentage of babies born to unmarried couples has been rising steadily for several years. In 2009 it was slightly more than 50% for Scotland as a whole.
86% of mothers who gave birth in Scotland in 2009 were born in the UK, including 76% who were born in Scotland. 6% of mothers had been born in the European Union (EU), including 3.5% from the countries which joined the EU in 2004 (such as Poland).
For 14% of births in 2009 neither parent was born in Scotland (compared to 9% in 2003) and for 9% of births neither parent was born in the UK (compared to 3% in 2003).
Deaths
There were 53,856 deaths registered in Scotland in 2009.
The number of deaths each year has slowly reduced over the past 30 years. The total for 2009 was the lowest since 1855 (when civil registration was introduced).
The main causes of deaths were:
The percentage of deaths caused by coronary heart disease has fallen from 29% in 1981 to 15% in 2009, but the percentage of deaths caused by cancer has risen from 22% to 28%.
Death rates from cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke in Scotland are well above the rates for the other countries in the UK.
In 2009, there were 1,282 deaths from causes entirely related to alcohol. After a sharp rise in the 1990s, the number of deaths from these causes has reduced in the last few years.
There were 317 stillbirths and 235 infant deaths in 2009. Death rates for both have improved significantly. The rate of stillbirths has dropped from 13.1 for every 1,000 births (live births and stillbirths) in 1971 to 5.3 in 2009. The infant death rate fell from 19.9 for every 1,000 live births in 1971 to 4 in 2009.
Standardised mortality ratios compare the average death rate in Scotland to those in different areas of Scotland, taking into account differences in age. There are large differences across Scotland, ranging from Glasgow, which has a standardised mortality ratio that is 27% higher than the Scottish average, to East Dunbartonshire which is 23% below the Scottish average.
Life expectancy
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 75.3 years for men and 80.1 years for women born around 2008.
Despite recent improvements, Scottish men and women have poor life expectancy compared to 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 27,254 marriages in Scotland in 2009. This includes 6,664 marriages (24%) where neither the bride nor groom lived in Scotland, but does not include people living in Scotland who marry elsewhere.
For first marriages, the average age at which people marry has increased by around two and a half years in the last 10 years, to 32.5 years for men and 30.7 years for women.
Just over half of all marriages (52%) were civil ceremonies, carried out by a registrar – compared to just under one-third (31%) in 1971. Just under half of these civil ceremonies took place in registration offices. Other locations for civil ceremonies were:
Most religious marriages (6,143) were carried out by Church of Scotland ministers, with clergy from the Roman Catholic Church carrying out 1,788 marriages. Celebrants from the Humanist Society of Scotland, authorised to carry out marriages since 2005, officiated at 1,544 marriages.
In 2009 there were 498 civil partnerships – 219 male couples and 279 female couples.
In 2009, there were 10,371 divorces and 24 dissolutions of civil partnerships (when a civil partnership is ended) in Scotland.
Adoptions
In 2009, there were 455 adoptions recorded in Scotland, 37 more than in 2008. The number of adoptions each year is around a quarter of what it used to be in the early 1970s.
Households and housing
In the middle of 2009, there were 2.34 million households in Scotland – around 300,000 more than in 1991.
The number of households has been increasing steadily but this growth has slowed over the last two years. Between 2008 and 2009, the increase in the number of households (13,200) was lower than in the last five years.
Projections suggest that by 2033 the number of households in Scotland will increase to 2.8 million, which is an average of 19,300 extra households each year.
Most of that expected increase in the number of households is the result of an ageing population and more people living alone or in smaller households, not an increase in the population.
Across Scotland in 2009, 2.9% of homes were empty and 1.4% were second homes, though there are wide differences across the country. There are more empty homes in more deprived areas, and more second homes in the remote rural areas.
Very Near The Truth – a brief history of the census In Scotland