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Mid-year estimates

NRS annual. Ten-year series loaded. Natural change and net migration are the change story, not a second total.

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Latest mid-2025; mid-2023/2024 revised with migration method updates.

Scotland mid-year population estimate
5,545,500Published
Highest ever mid-year estimate; published 14 July 2026. Mid-2025 subject to future revision with mid-2026.
Annual population change mid-2024 to mid-2025
2,200Published
Increase <0.1%; smaller than recent years.
Natural change (births minus deaths)
-16,200Published
11th consecutive year of negative natural change.
Total net migration
17,900Published
International + rest of UK combined.
Net international migration
9,300Published
Provisional; lowest in last five years.
Net migration from rest of UK
8,600Published

Still missing

Natural change plus net migration is the mid-year change story — not a second population total.

Scotland mid-year population estimates

Scotland. Blank years are missing, not zero. Source

2015-065,350,600
2016-065,373,600
2017-065,388,200
2018-065,392,100
2019-065,411,200
2020-065,408,900
2021-065,412,900
2022-065,447,000
2023-065,511,800
2024-065,543,300
2025-065,545,500

Period	Value
2015-06	5,350,600
2016-06	5,373,600
2017-06	5,388,200
2018-06	5,392,100
2019-06	5,411,200
2020-06	5,408,900
2021-06	5,412,900
2022-06	5,447,000
2023-06	5,511,800
2024-06	5,543,300
2025-06	5,545,500

Verified 11 points 2015–2025 (exceeds 10-year preference). Incorporates mid-2023/2024 revisions published with mid-2025 (duplicate revised-only rows removed in cleanup). LA multi-year series published by NRS but not bulk-expanded here (single-year LA snapshot retained).

Council area mid-2025 population (32 LAs)

Scotland local authorities. Blank years are missing, not zero. Swipe sideways for years. Source

Council	2025
Aberdeen City	230,180
Aberdeenshire	264,640
Angus	114,610
Argyll and Bute	87,310
City of Edinburgh	531,370
Clackmannanshire	51,610
Dumfries and Galloway	145,490
Dundee City	148,390
East Ayrshire	121,350
East Dunbartonshire	109,550
East Lothian	116,460
East Renfrewshire	99,840
Falkirk	160,230
Fife	373,990
Glasgow City	654,330
Highland	237,260
Inverclyde	78,550
Midlothian	100,390
Moray	94,730
Na h-Eileanan Siar	25,770
North Ayrshire	133,660
North Lanarkshire	343,930
Orkney Islands	21,920
Perth and Kinross	154,930
Renfrewshire	189,270
Scottish Borders	116,800
Shetland Islands	22,710
South Ayrshire	112,280
South Lanarkshire	334,330
Stirling	94,040
West Dunbartonshire	88,340
West Lothian	187,240

Single-year snapshot; multi-year LA series available in NRS time series workbook but not fully expanded in Wave A figures beyond national. | Multi-year expansion now in series.population.mid_year_la_2015_2025.

A first register already exists for part of this branch: NRS mid-year Scotland.

This is a leaf. Empty is not £0.