Main Points
- There were 514 settlements in Scotland in mid-2020. This is 5 fewer than in 2016, due to some settlements merging or falling below the threshold of 500 people.
- The population living in settlements and localities was 4,974,670. The population living outside settlements was 491,330.
- 91% of Scotland’s population lived in settlements and localities, which accounted for 2.3% of Scotland’s total land area.
- The largest settlement in Scotland was Greater Glasgow with a population of 1,028,220. Nearly 1 in 5 people living in Scotland in mid-2020 lived in Greater Glasgow.
- Almost all of Glasgow City’s and Dundee City’s population lived in a settlement (99.8% in both). In contrast, less than a third of Na h-Eileanan Siar’s population lived in a settlement (29.4%).
You can view and interact with this data using an interactive map.
