Population dynamics: overview

Information about population dynamics is of fundamental importance for policy making and planning across a range of policy areas from health to the economy, and population change is relevant at local as well as national level. 

Scotland's population is decreasing and ageing at the same time.  Death rates in Scotland have dropped considerably over the last century, but Scotland has one of the highest death rates in Western Europe, and large variations in mortality persist between affluent and deprived areas. The birth rate has also been dropping over a long period and is now lower than the rate of deaths and so, without inward migration and/or a resurgence in the fertility rate, the country's population and that of many parts of Scotland will continue to decline.

This part of the web site describes various related aspects of population dynamics - population, deaths and migration - providing for each topic: an overview of the topic, examples of local and national trends, key data sources and references and useful web links.  Recent work that calculated healthy life expectancy in Scotland for the first time is also presented. 

A section on pregnancy and births will be added to the web site shortly.