The estimated population of Scotland on 30 June 2013 was 5,327,700 - the highest ever.
The population of Scotland grew by around 14,100 in the 12 months between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013, an increase of 0.3 per cent.
The increase in the population in the 12 months to 30 June 2013 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 last peaked at 5.24 million in 1974 before falling to 5.06 million in 2000. It then increased each year to reach a new peak of 5.33 million in 2013. That increase has mainly been the result of more people moving to Scotland than leaving. For the second consecutive year, 2013 saw a fall in natural change and net in-migration.
2012-based projections (estimates for future years largely based on past trends) suggest that the population of Scotland will rise to 5.78 million by 2037 and that the population will age significantly, with the number of people aged 65 and over increasing by 59 per cent, from 0.93 million to 1.47 million. These projections make no allowance for the future impact of government policies or other factors, such as the upcoming referendum on Scottish Independence.
There were 56,014 births registered in Scotland in 2013.
There were 2,013 (3.5 per cent) fewer births in 2013 than in 2012. This is the fifth year the number of births has fallen (following increases in each of the previous six years).
The average age of mothers has increased from 27.4 in 1991 to 29.9 in 2013. Similarly, the average age of fathers has increased from 30.0 in 1991 to 32.5 in 2013.
The percentage of babies born to unmarried couples is 51.4 per cent in 2013. Most births are registered by both parents.
The majority of mothers who gave birth in Scotland in 2013 were born in the UK (85 per cent), including 75 per cent who were born in Scotland. Seven per cent of mothers had been born elsewhere in the European Union (EU), including 5 per cent from the countries which joined the EU in 2004 (such as Poland).
For 15 per cent of births in 2013 neither parent was born in Scotland (compared with 9 per cent in 2003) and for 11 per cent of births neither parent was born in the UK (compared with 3 per cent in 2003).
There were 54,700 deaths registered in Scotland in 2013. This was 237 (0.4 per cent) less than in 2012.
The main causes of deaths were:
The percentage of deaths caused by coronary heart disease has fallen from 29 per cent in 1980-1982 to 13 per cent in 2013, and the percentage for strokes has reduced from 14 per cent to 8 per cent, but the percentage of deaths caused by cancer has risen from 22 per cent to 29 per cent. However, the average age of death from cancer has risen, and the age-standardised death rate for cancer (which takes account of the change in the age-distribution of the population) has fallen by about a sixth since the start of the 1980s.
Death rates from cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke in Scotland are well above the rates for the other countries in the UK.
There were 234 stillbirths and 186 infant deaths in 2013. 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 4.2 in 2013. The infant death rate fell from 19.9 for every 1,000 live births in 1971 to 3.3 in 2013.
Estimates of life expectancy presented in this report use population estimates based on the 2011 Census. However, the two sections for urban and rural together with deprivation still use population estimates based on the 2001 Census since the revised life expectancy estimates for these geographies are not yet available.
Life expectancy in Scotland has improved greatly over the last 30 years, increasing from 69.1 years for males and 75.3 years for females born around 1981 to 76.8 years for males and 80.9 years for females born around 2012.
In the last half of the 20th century, more people tended to leave Scotland than move here. However, since 2001, this has changed.
In the year to 30 June 2013, the number of people moving to Scotland from other parts of the UK, and the number moving out of Scotland to other parts of the UK were as follows.
This movement of people increased the population by around 7,900 people.
In the year to 30 June 2013, the number of people moving to Scotland from overseas and the number moving out of Scotland to go overseas were as follows.
This movement of people increased the population by around 2,100, which is lower than the net gains from recent years.
Most people moving to and from Scotland are young - between 16 and 34, with smaller peaks for children under 5 moving to and from Scotland.
There were 27,547 marriages in Scotland in 2013. This includes 6,200 marriages (23 per cent) where neither the bride nor groom lived in Scotland, but does not include people living in Scotland who marry elsewhere.
The average age at which people marry for the first time has increased by around two years since 2003, to 33.0 years for men and 31.2 years for women.
Just over half of all marriages (51 per cent) were civil ceremonies, carried out by a registrar - compared with just under one-third (31 per cent) in 1971. There were 7,559 civil ceremonies conducted at approved places in 2013. This is compared to 3,465 in 2003, the first full year of these arrangements.
Most religious marriages were carried out by Church of Scotland ministers (4,616), with clergy from the Roman Catholic Church carrying out 1,582 marriages. Celebrants from the Humanist Society of Scotland, authorised to carry out marriages since 2005, officiated at 3,185 marriages.
In 2013 there were 530 civil partnerships - 217 male couples and 313 female couples.
In 2013, there were 489 adoptions recorded in Scotland. The number of adoptions each year is around a quarter of what it used to be in the early 1970s.
In mid-2013, there were 2.4 million households in Scotland, which is an increase of around 171,000 over the past ten years.
Across Scotland in 2013, 2.8% of homes were empty and 1.4% were second homes, though there are wide differences across the country. Remote rural areas have the highest percentage of dwellings that are vacant and second homes. The proportion of vacant dwellings is generally higher in more deprived areas.
The number of households is projected to increase to 2.78 million by 2037, an average annual increase of around 15,800 households. This increase is the result of an ageing population, and more people living alone or in smaller households, as well as an increasing population. The largest increases are found in the number of households where someone lives alone, particularly amongst older people. In contrast, the number of larger households is projected to fall.
Since 1855, by law all births, deaths and marriages (and since 2005 civil partnerships) must be registered. Councils are responsible for providing the registration service under the supervision of the Registrar General.
There are currently three district examiners who are responsible for checking the accuracy of all the 140,000 records created each year.
Every year since 2007, registrars in the 32 councils have achieved a high rate of accuracy, with an average of over 97 per cent of the records they create having no mistakes in them.
The latest census in Scotland took place on 27 March 2011. The census has collected information about the population every 10 years since 1801 (except in 1941 when no census was taken due to the Second World War).
Scotland'Ninety-three per cent of the people in Scotland stated that they were born within the UK, a decrease of three percentage points since 2001. Eighty-three per cent of the population were born in Scotland, 9 per cent in England, 0.7 per cent in Northern Ireland and 0.3 per cent in Wales. Of the 7 per cent (369,000) of people in Scotland who were not born in the UK, 15 per cent (55,000) were born in Poland, and 6 per cent (23,000) were born in each of India and the Republic of Ireland. Just over two-thirds (69 per cent) of people living in Scotland who were born abroad were of working age (16-64 years old) when they arrived in the UK.s population on census day 2011 was estimated to be 5,295,000, the highest ever recorded in a census. Since the 2001 Census, the population had increased by 233,400 (5 per cent). There were more females (2,728,000 or 51.5 per cent) than males (2,567,000 or 48.5 per cent), and for the first time in any census there were more people aged 65 and over than aged under 15.
It was estimated that 1.9 per cent (99,000 people) of Scotland's population lived in communal establishments in 2011, a slight increase on the 1.7 per cent (86,000) in 2001. Of the people living in communal establishments at the time of the 2011 Census, 38 per cent were in education establishments such as student halls of residence, 37 per cent were in care homes and a further 6 per cent in other medical and care establishments.
In the 2011 Census, just over quarter (26 per cent, 1.1 million) of the population in Scotland aged 16 and over reported they had achieved Census Level 4 or above qualifications, such as a university degree.