Did You Know?
- Population Statistics

New Register House

New Register House, Edinburgh, where the birth/marriage/death records are held.

The annual report from the Registrar General shows that the population of Scotland fell in 1999 to 5,119,200 as the number of births that year fell to the lowest level since records began.

The estimated population of Scotland in 2011 is 5,058,800.

The population statistics from the General Register Office (Scotland) based on the census results every ten years (and an estimate for 1997) are as follows:

Thousands Thousands
1855 2,978.1 1931 4,843.0
1861 3,069.4 1941 4,819.4
1871 3,368.9 1951 5,102.5
1881 3,742.6 1961 5,183.8
1891 4,036.2 1971 5,235.6
1901 4,479.1 1981 5,180.2
1911 4,751.1 1991 5,107.0
1921 4,882.5 1997 5,122.5

In 1811 the population of the counties of the Highlands where crofting was carried out (Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Ross & Cromarty, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland) was 318,266. By 1851 it had risen to 395,540 but fell steadily from then to 352,371 in 1901, 293,139 in 1931 and 277,948 in 1961.



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