Population statistics, Scotland

THE population of Scotland is projected to increase to some 5.57 million people by mid-2043, according to the latest statistics on the subject.

According to the National Registers of Scotland, an increase to 5.57 million represents a 2.5 per cent hike on current levels (5.54 million in mid-2018).

The figure has been arrived at by, among other things, analysing projected net migration (set to increase) and birth and death rates (the latter to be higher than the former).

Life expectancy, for those born 2043, is expected to rise for both men (from 77 years-old to 80.6) and women (from 81.1 to 83.8).

By age group, those of pensionable age are expected to rise from the current level of 19 per cent of the overall population, to 19.4 per cent in ten years’ time and 22.9 per cent by 2043.

Meanwhile, according to the 2019 Scottish Household Survey, more and more of us are living either alone or in ‘small family’ units.

Says the survey: “In 2019, two in five households in Scotland were either single adult or small adult families – making these the most common houseehold types.”

And that, overall, some 24 per cent of adults in Scotland lived with “long-term physical or mental health conditions that limited their daily life”.

Sources: National Registers of Scotland (here) and Scottish Household Survey 2019 (here).