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, at both local and national level. 

Scotland’s population is currently increasing. This is largely due to inward migration, but also there have been more births than deaths in recent years. The birth rate has increased over the past few years, while the death rate has dropped considerably over the last century. Scotland, however, still has one of the highest death rates in Western Europe, and large variations in mortality persist between affluent and deprived areas.

This part of the website describes various related aspects of population dynamics - population, pregnancy and births, 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. 

Information on healthy life expectancy and amenable mortality is also presented.