Few Government Departments survive to celebrate their 150th anniversary. The General Registry Office (as it was called then) was born on 1 January 1855 and continues to lead a full life as part of the devolved Scottish Administration. Our 150th birthday gives us the pretext for looking at the history of Scotland’s demography since the mid-19th century as a background to modern population trends.
So Chapter 1 of this report looks generally at Scotland’s population in 2004 and recent years, while Chapter 2 paints the broader picture since Victorian times.
Scotland was a very different place in the 1850s from today. The total population, in the 1851 Census, was 2.89 million compared with just over 5 million in the 2001 Census. Over 93,000 babies were born in 1855, compared to almost 54,000 in 2004. In 1855, the number of deaths was, at 62,000, much less than the number of births in that year. The number of deaths in 2004 was 56,000 – 4,000 more than the number of births. In 1855, there were 19,680 marriages, compared to 32,154 in 2004. Life expectancy at birth has gone up from 40 to 74 for men, and from 44 to 79 for women.
Although the figures have changed, and my report is no longer concerned, (as was my predecessor’s in 1855) about deaths from smallpox, whooping cough, and measles, Scotland’s demography continues to be of great public interest. I hope that you enjoy reading this report and finding out more about Scotland’s changing population.
To keep the report to a manageable size, I could not include every statistic about Scotland’s population. There is a wealth of other demographic statistics on our main website (www.nrscotland.gov.uk). Our Customer Services team are always happy to help: their contact details are given on page 104.
Duncan Macniven
Registrar General for Scotland
July 2005