Changes to NRS statistical publications
As part of our 2026-27 Statistical Work Programme, NRS has undertaken a review of our statistical publications and identified a number of proposed changes, which include reducing the frequency of some publications. These proposals are intended to help ensure that our statistical outputs remain sustainable, relevant and capable of meeting future user needs.
We are now inviting feedback from users on these proposals before any final decisions are made.
Key proposals include scaling back the frequency or content of some publications:
Households and Dwellings in Scotland: reducing from annual to every two years
Small Area Population Estimates: releasing only final estimates and no provisional figures
Alzheimer's and Other Dementia Deaths: reducing standalone publication from annual to every two years. Annual trends and data on leading causes of death will continue to be published in the Registrar General's Annual Statistical Tables of Vital Events
Homeless Deaths: reducing from annual to every two years
Avoidable Mortality: converting to a data-only release
Monthly Mortality Analysis: reducing from monthly to quarterly
NRS publishes a wider range of official statistics than those listed below. No changes are currently proposed for the majority of our statistical publications, including key outputs such as the Mid-Year Population Estimates, Population and Household Projections, Drug-related Deaths, Registrar General's Annual Statistical Tables of Vital Events (formerly known as the Vital Events Reference Tables), and Life Expectancy.
Full details of the proposals for each publication are provided in the table attached and the changes proposed are summarised below.
The proposals described below are not confirmed changes. Feedback received through this exercise will be considered before final decisions are made.
Why are we reviewing our publications?
NRS faces increasing pressures on analytical capacity, alongside growing expectations for statistical development, modernisation and user engagement.
We publish over 30 regular official statistics series covering Scotland's population, migration, households and vital events, such as births, marriages and deaths.
We want to ensure that our resources are focused where they create the greatest public value. This includes maintaining and improving the statistics that users rely on most, while creating capacity for activities such as:
improving methods and quality
enhancing accessibility and usability
responding to emerging user needs
modernising statistical production
supporting future transformation programmes
This review is therefore not primarily an exercise in reducing outputs. Rather, it is about ensuring our statistical portfolio remains sustainable, impactful and responsive to users.
This work is closely aligned with the Office of the Chief Statistician's Strategic Priorities and the principles of Public Service Reform, which emphasise focusing resources where they deliver the greatest value and ensuring public services remain sustainable in the longer term. For NRS statistics, this means carefully considering where analytical effort can be better directed towards highest-value outputs, while continuing to meet user needs and statutory responsibilities. In practice, this may involve reducing, redesigning, transferring or discontinuing some outputs in order to create greater capacity for improving statistics, modernising production processes, and responding to emerging user needs.
The review supports the priorities set out in NRS's 2026-27 Statistical Work Programme and aligns with the principles of the Code of Practice for Statistics. In particular:
Trustworthiness: communicating transparently on our plans, inviting feedback from users to inform those
Quality: creating capacity to invest in improving quality, quality-assurance and automation
Value: ensuring that we engage with users to understand the value of our statistics and prioritise our work accordingly
How were these proposals developed?
The proposals have been informed by a comprehensive review of our portfolio of statistical publications.
In considering potential changes, we assessed publications against factors including:
established user needs and public value
policy and operational relevance
statutory requirements
opportunities to reduce duplication
long-term sustainability of production
publication frequency, particularly the need for annual data
whether information could be provided more effectively through alternative formats or products
We also engaged with analytical and policy professionals across NRS and the wider statistical system, including Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and the Office for National Statistics.
This engagement has provided valuable insight into how statistics are used to support policy development, operational decision-making and public services. We also explored the impact our proposals would have on their stakeholders and the wider public.
When considering frequency, we identified a number of publications where the analytical focus is on broader trends rather than year to year changes. For example, our data on households in Scotland shows relatively small changes year to year, so we tend to look at changes over the longer term. Another example is our data on homeless deaths. There is more uncertainty around homeless deaths estimates, so we tend to look at the change across multiple years of data. In both cases we have proposed that we now publish data every two years (for the latest year and the previous one).
As a result of this review, changes are proposed for 15 publications. No changes are proposed to the remaining 18 publications, including key outputs such as the Mid-Year Population Estimates, Life Expectancy and Drug-related Deaths statistics. Full details of the proposals for each publication are provided in the table attached and the changes proposed are summarised below.
Why are we seeking wider feedback?
Official statistics serve a range of purposes. They help inform public policy and decision-making, but they also help inform public understanding of Scotland's population and society.
While engagement to date has focused primarily on organisations and stakeholders who use statistics for policy development, we have also considered known user needs established through ongoing engagement with our customers. We now want to hear directly from the wider community of users.
This call for feedback is an opportunity for anyone who uses, relies on or has an interest in NRS statistics to tell us what matters most to them. We want to better understand the value different users place on our publications and ensure future decisions reflect the needs for public policy and wider public understanding.
How to provide feedback
We want to hear from everyone who uses NRS statistics, whether for policy development, service planning, research, business, academic work or personal interest.
When providing feedback, it would be particularly helpful to understand:
which publications you use, how frequently you use them and why
how you use the information they provide
the impact that the proposed change would have on your work or interests
any suggestions for how NRS can maximise the value of its statistical outputs
Feedback can be submitted during the six-week period, from 22 October to 3 December, by contacting our Statistics Customer Services Team.
Full list of proposals
Population Statistics
Current purpose
Provides statistics on households and dwellings to support housing policy, local planning and service delivery.
Proposed change
Reduce publication frequency from annual to every two years, reflecting the relatively stable nature of year-on-year trends. The publication would continue to include (council area) data for each individual year, with two years of data released together. Estimates for data zones and other geographies built up by aggregating data zones would only be available for every second year.
Current purpose
Provides information on the number of people registered to vote in Scotland.
Proposed change
Transfer responsibility for producing these statistics from NRS to the Scottish Government, who are better placed to deliver these statistics. No change in frequency, timeliness or content is proposed beyond this change of ownership.
Current purpose
Presents information on people aged 90 and over in Scotland.
Proposed change
Incorporate these statistics into the Mid-Year Population Estimates publication (typically released in July) rather than publishing a separate report (typically released in the autumn). This will improve the timeliness of these statistics.
Current purpose
Provides population estimates for small geographic areas including data zones and other geographies built up by aggregating data zones.
Proposed change
Continue annual publication, but we would not publish provisional estimates. Only final estimates would be released, two years after the reference period (for example, mid-2026 figures would be published in autumn 2028 rather than as provisional estimates in autumn 2027).
Current purpose
Provides information on Scotland's population by country of birth and nationality.
Proposed change
The publication remains paused due to data quality issues with the underlying source. We are seeking views on future user requirements should suitable methods become available.
Current purpose
Summarises key demographic trends from across NRS statistical publications.
Proposed change
Discontinue the publication, as it mainly brings together information already published elsewhere and does not contain new data.
Health and Mortality Statistics
Current purpose
Measures the average number of years people can expect to live in good health.
Proposed change
Transfer responsibility for producing these statistics from NRS to Public Health Scotland (PHS) after the 2023-2025 reporting period. No change in frequency, timeliness or content is proposed beyond this change of ownership. As Scotland's national public health body, PHS is well placed to lead the future development of Healthy Life Expectancy statistics.
Current purpose
Provides statistics on deaths involving Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
Proposed change
Reduce publication frequency from annual to every two years, as the publication is mainly used to monitor longer-term trends. The publication would continue to include data for each individual year, with two years of data released together.
Data on deaths where dementia and Alzheimer's disease are the underlying cause of death would continue to be published annually, with year-on-year trends highlighted in the Annual Statistical Tables of Vital Events, which examine how the main causes of death are changing. The information that would be published only every second year is the more detailed commentary, which tends to change little from year to year, along with related statistics on deaths where Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia was mentioned as a contributory factor rather than the underlying cause of death.
Current purpose
Reports on deaths among people experiencing homelessness.
Proposed change
Reduce publication frequency from annual to every two years, as the publication is mainly used to monitor longer-term trends. The publication would continue to include data for each individual year, with two years of data released together.
Current purpose
Measures deaths that could potentially be prevented through effective public health or healthcare interventions.
Proposed change
Move to a data-only release, whereby the underlying data would continue to be published and made publicly available, but without an accompanying statistical report or detailed commentary.
Current purpose
Provides regular analysis of mortality trends in Scotland.
Proposed change
Reduce publication frequency from monthly to quarterly, whilst retaining Deaths Registered Weekly in Scotland.
Current purpose
Reports on deaths occurring during winter periods.
Proposed change
Discontinue the publication. While important, these statistics are published around two seasons after winter ends, limiting their use for decision-making. More timely information will continue to be available through weekly deaths statistics.
Name Statistics
Current purpose
Reports on the most popular baby names in Scotland.
Proposed change
Continue publishing annual data, interactive charts and key points, but reduce the detailed analytical report to once every three years.
Current purpose
Provides information on the most common surnames in Scotland.
Proposed change
Move to a data-only release, removing accompanying analysis.
Vital Events Statistics
Current purpose
Provides a timely update on births, deaths and other vital events between annual releases of our Statistical Tables of Vital Events.
Proposed change
Continue publishing the data and key points, but reduce the amount of detailed commentary and analysis provided.
What happens next?
Following the close of the feedback period, NRS will review all responses received and consider whether any changes to the proposals are required.
We will publish a summary of the feedback received and our final decisions, including how user feedback has informed those decisions.
This call for feedback forms part of our wider commitment to improving user engagement and ensuring that NRS statistics continue to provide value for policymakers, service providers, researchers and the public. It also marks the beginning of a more transparent and systematic approach to reviewing our statistical outputs. We intend to establish an annual cycle of reviewing our statistics and updating our work programme, supported by ongoing user engagement, to ensure our outputs continue to evolve in line with user needs and provide maximum public value.
