NRS Publication Schedule Changes

Future Publications

Details of publications which are now available, but were affected by schedule changes during 2020, can be found below in the section Recent publications.

1. Changes to national population projections output schedule (updated 30 January 2024)

We previously announced the publication of interim national population projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for 30 January 2024 and said that these would include figures for Scotland. However, Scottish figures have not been included as part of this release. This is because reconciliation and rebasing of population statistics, including international migration statistics for 2012-2022 incorporating insights from Scotland's Census 2022, are yet to be finalised.

Figures for Scotland will be included in the full set of 2022-based national population projections for all parts of the UK which is planned for October/November 2024. 
ONS and NRS advise users to continue to use the 2020-based interim national population projections: estimated international migration variant for Scotland, published on 27 January 2023.

2. Changes to mortality output schedule (updated 9 November 2023)

National Records of Scotland is delaying some mortality outputs to allow for the inclusion of key information from Scotland’s Census 2022 to be included in our mortality data for the first time.

Avoidable Mortality for 2022, which had been pre-announced for November 2023, and Healthy Life Expectancy 2020-2022 will be delayed until the rebased mid-year population estimates are available. Healthy Life Expectancy, will be published once the  information on general health from the census becomes available.

3. Probable suicides in Scotland, 2022 and Alzheimer's disease and other dementia deaths in Scotland, 2022 (updated 27 June 2023)

The publication timetable for the following publications has been amended:

Probable suicides in Scotland, 2022 - from August to 5 September 2023
Alzheimer's disease and other dementia deaths in Scotland, 2022 - from August to 19 September 2023

Due to the toxicology issues detailed previously and the delay these caused to some of our cause of death publications, we have had to delay the two reports to ensure that the team working on them have adequate time to produce, quality assure and analyse the latest data before publishing.

4. Vital Events Reference Tables 2022 and Drug-related deaths in Scotland, 2022 (updated 17 April 2022)

The publication timetable for the following publications has been amended:

Vital Events Reference Tables, 2022 – from June to July
Drug-related deaths in Scotland, 2022 – from July to August

Some technical issues with toxicology testing have led to delays in information being sent to NRS on the cause of death for some deaths. This information is essential for the production of the above publications. The technical issues have now been resolved but the late receipt of the information means that the publications cannot be produced to their original timetables. 

In accordance with the official statistics code of practice, we will announce the exact date of publication at least 28 days in advance. 

5. Population by Country of Birth and Nationality for Scottish Areas, July 2021 to June 2022 (Updated 27 October 2022)

The next release for population by country of birth and nationality estimates for the year ending June 2022, scheduled for November 2022, will not go ahead. This is due to an underlying data issue with one of the data sources feeding into these estimates. Previous releases are not affected by this issue.

More information on this issue can be found on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website.

6. Migration Statistics Quarterly Summary for Scotland (Updated on 17 May 2021)

Publication of the Migration Statistics Quarterly Summary for Scotland has been paused while migration statistics are undergoing a transformation programme. Immigration Statistics and National Insurance Number allocations data will continue to be published on a quarterly basis by Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, respectively.

7. Mid-2021 Population Estimates for Scotland and Migration Statistics (Updated on 14 April 2022)

NRS were planning to publish Mid-2021 Population Estimates for Scotland as well as Migration Statistics in May 2022. However, due to further quality assurance of the international migration estimates for 2021, these publications have been delayed and we will update the NRS future publication schedule when a rescheduled date is confirmed.

Scottish international migration estimates are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and they are a key component of the Scottish population estimates. The ONS have postponed publication of the UK international migration estimates to allow for further quality assurance against other available data sources, including provisional English and Welsh Census 2021 data, to have the highest confidence in the published figures.

The Future and Recent Publications page of the NRS website has now been updated with the revised publication dates.