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Key Facts

May 2009

Scotland’s estimated population on 30^th June 2007 was 5,144,200, a rise of 27,300 on the previous year and the highest since 1983.
There has been a net in-migration to Scotland in each of the years since mid-year 2002.
Since 1997, the population has increased most in West Lothian and East Lothian and fallen furthest in Inverclyde and Dundee City.
The population of Scotland is projected to rise from 5.12 million in 2006 to a high of 5.37 million in 2031 before slowly declining, falling below 5 million in 2076.
In Scotland, the number of children aged under 16 is projected to decrease by 7 per cent between 2006 and 2031, while the number of people aged 75 and over is projected to increase by 81 per cent over the same period.

The number of births in 2007 (57,781) was 4 per cent more than in 2006 and the highest since 1997.
In Scotland in 2007, the total fertility rate (the average number of children a woman of child bearing age would expect to have) was 1.73, the highest value since 1982.
49 per cent of births in 2007 were to unmarried parents.
There were 55,986 deaths in Scotland in 2007, 1.6 per cent more than in 2006 but still the third lowest since the introduction of civil registration in 1855.
In 2007, cancer, coronary heart disease and strokes, the so-called "three biggest causes of death", accounted for 27, 17 and 10 per cent, respectively, of all deaths. Respiratory system diseases (e.g pneumonia) accounted for 13 per cent of all deaths.
There were 455 drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2007, the highest recorded total, and an increase of 8 per cent from 2006.
Life expectancy at birth for those born in Scotland in 2004-06 was 74.6 years for men and 79.6 years for women.
There were 29,866 marriages in Scotland in 2007 (0.1 per cent fewer than in 2006) and 12,773 divorces (1.9 per cent fewer than in 2006).

In mid-2008, there were 2.3 million households in Scotland – around 290,000 more than in 1991. Over the last year, there has been an increase of 17,500 households (0.8 per cent).
Most of the increase in households is due to more people living alone or in smaller households, rather than an increase in the overall population. The number of one-person households is projected to increase from 809,000 (35 per cent of all households) in 2006 to over 1.2 million (44 per cent) in 2031.
The greatest projected increases are in households headed by people aged 60 or over. Older people are more likely to live alone, or with just one other person.
The average household size has fallen from 2.45 people in 1991 to 2.19 in 2006 and it is projected to decrease to 1.93 in 2031.