Update (16 February 2026)
These statistics were corrected on 16 February 2026. Incorrect counts of armed forces were used in the production of the originally published figures. This has now been corrected. Note that this has NOT affected the council or Scotland level mid-year population estimates.
Most of the changes that have been made are small. In total, the populations of 25 data zones changed by 5% or more. The error primarily affects data zones containing, or near to, armed forces bases. A table comparing the original and corrected data zone populations has been included in the data that can be found at the end of this publication.
The data tables, and key findings below, have been updated to account for this. Other material, including the report and charts file have NOT been updated and reflect the originally published figures (published on 21 November 2024).
Key Findings
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There are 6,976 data zones in Scotland. In mid-2022, 80% of data zones had a population between 500 and 999 people living in them.
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Most people lived in large urban areas (37%) and other urban areas (34%), compared with accessible rural areas (12%), accessible small towns (9%), remote rural areas (5%), and remote small towns (3%).
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Younger people are more likely to live in urban areas, and older people are more likely to reside in rural areas.
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Inverclyde and Glasgow City had the highest percentages of population living within the most deprived Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile (31% and 30% respectively).
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East Renfrewshire had the highest percentage of population living within the least deprived SIMD decile (37%).
Other Geographies
Population estimates for other areas which are built up from the 2011 Data Zones are available from the other geographies page.
