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Registrar General publishes review of Scotland’s population |
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
The Registrar General's annual review of Scotland’s demographic trends has found that migration was the biggest contributor to population growth in Scotland last year.
The report, “Scotland's Population 2007” which was published today, finds that for the fifth year running, Scotland's population increased in the year to 30 June 2007, reaching 5.144 million - the highest figure since 1983.
Part of the increase was because there were 1,100 more births than deaths, the largest natural change since 1992-93, but migration was the biggest contributor to the increase, with net gains in population of around 8,800 from the rest of the UK and 16,800 from the rest of the world. Once other adjustments are included, the total increase in the population was 27,300.
Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said: “Records are being broken. The total population is the highest since 1983. Births are at their highest level since 1998-99. The number of births exceeded the number of deaths by 1,100, the largest natural change since 1992-93. Gains from migration were higher than in any year since our current records started in 1951. The population increase during the year was the highest since 1946-47.”
In the last decade, the biggest percentage increases in population has been in West Lothian, up 11 per cent, East Lothian (8 per cent) and Perth and Kinross (6 per cent). However, more than half of the council areas saw a decrease in population in that time, with the greatest falls in Inverclyde, Dundee City and Eilean Siar, each with a reduction in population of 6 per cent.
There were 57,781 births in 2007, the highest since 1997, and there were 55,986 deaths in 2007. While the number of deaths was almost 900 higher than the total for 2006, it was the third lowest total recorded since the introduction of civil registration in 1855. The three most common causes of death were cancer (15,274 deaths), coronary heart disease (9,343 deaths) and strokes (5,333 deaths). However, the proportion of deaths from these most common causes has fallen from 65 per cent in 1981 to 53 per cent in 2007, while, of people who died of cancer, more died from lung cancer (4,115) than any other kind.
Life expectancy in Scotland is about 4 years lower than for the best-performing states in the European Union. A male baby born around 2006 can expect to live for 74.8 years and a female baby for 79.7 years, which is an improvement since 1981 of almost 6 years for men and over 4 years for women.
There were 29,866 marriages in Scotland in 2007, almost exactly the same as in 2006 but considerably lower than the typical number of 40,000 in the 1970s. Just over a quarter were so called "tourist weddings" where neither of the couple lived in Scotland, and almost half of these marriages took place at Gretna.
There were 12,773 divorces in Scotland in 2007, 2 per cent fewer than in 2006.
There were 688 civil partnerships registered in 2007 - 339 male and 349 female couples. That compared with 1,047 registered in 2006, the first full year of the new legal status.
The report can be viewed in full online here.
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