Migration Statistics

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in line with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (available on the UK Statistics Authority website).

Background

Producing high quality migration statistics is of increasing importance, for policy development and for planning and providing public services.

Migration is the most difficult component of population change to estimate; there is no comprehensive system which registers migration in the UK. Estimates of migration therefore have to be based on survey data and the best proxy data that exist.

The statistics in this section detail the latest estimates of migration within Scotland, between Scotland and the rest of the UK and between Scotland and overseas. The migration statistics Methodology section on this website explains how these estimates are produced.

Estimates of migration for the UK, England and Wales are available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website, and for Northern Ireland from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) website.

Data Visualisation

An interactive map showing the migration flows between council areas between mid-2015 and mid-2016 can be accessed in the Infographics and Visualisations section of this website. Further details can be found in the Migration within Scotland section.

Detailed information on migration, including time series data, can be found in the tables below. Further information, including commentary on these statistics, can be found on this website in the Registrar General’s Annual Review, the Mid-Year Population Estimates publications for the relevant year and also in the High Level Summary of Statistical Trends.

Total Migration To or From Scotland (Last Updated: 12 July 2017)

Migration within Scotland (Last Updated: 12 July 2017)

Migration between Scotland and the Rest of the UK (Last Updated: 12 July 2017)

Migration between Scotland and Overseas (Last Updated: 12 July 2017)

Local Area Migration (Last Updated: 25 August 2016)

About this publication (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) (PDF 86Kb)

Migration Statistics Improvements

Other Useful Information

More Information

These detailed migration tables have been updated to include migration estimates for 2016, following the publication of the 2016 mid-year population estimates in April 2017.

This update has been formatted differently from previous releases, in an effort to streamline the migration tables and improve the clarity of the statistics. As a result of this, more information is included in this release than the July 2016 release, including migration between Scotland and the rest of the UK and overseas by sex at council level.

New NHS Board areas came into force in April 2014. The 2014 NHS Boards have been used for 2011/12 data onwards. The pre-2006 NHS Board areas being used for data up to and including 2010/11.  

The pre-2006 NHS Board areas being used for data up to and including 2010/11. In some tables, health board level data from before 2011/12 has been archived in the archive section, with links provided in the relevant tables.

Statistics - useful links

The Statistics - Useful Links page gives details of other related websites.

Enquiries and Suggestions

Please contact our Statistics Customer Services if you need any further information.
E-mail: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

If you have comments or suggestions that would help us improve our outputs or our standards of service please contact:

Kirsty MacLachlan, Senior Statistician, National Records of Scotland,
Room 1/2/3, Ladywell House, Ladywell Road, Edinburgh. EH12 7TF.
Telephone: (0131) 314 4242
E-mail: kirsty.maclachlan@nrscotland.gov.uk.