50 years have passed and Scotland fares worse.

Key points

Scotland’s population increasing due to rise in immigration

Largest rise in population for 50 years

Executive calls figures ‘encouraging’, but the SNP disagrees

Key quote
“We have the statistics but what we don’t have is why there were more births, why people stayed in Scotland and why many more people made Scotland their new home. I would say that the immigration into Scotland was clearly the principal factor.” – DUNCAN MCNIVEN

SCOTLAND’S population increased significantly last year as a result of the largest net rise in immigrants in more than 50 years.

According to new figures published by the General Register Office (GRO) for Scotland, 27,200 more people arrived in Scotland than departed from it between July 2003 and July 2004. This swelled the nation’s population to 5,078,400.

Taking into account births and deaths, the total increase in the Scottish population was about 21,000, almost ten times the previous year’s increase of just 2,600.

Original article