East Lothian population boom three times national average

Published on Thursday 30 April 2009 09:41

EAST Lothian has the fastest growing population in Scotland, according to new official figures.

The number of people living in the area jumped by more than three times the national average during the 12 months to June last year.

And most of the 1660 increase in the population – taking it to 96,100 – came from people moving into the area from elsewhere in Scotland.

East Lothian's 1.8 per cent rise in population compared with a Scottish average of 0.5 per cent. Edinburgh saw a rise of 0.8 per cent, Midlothian 1.3 per cent and West Lothian one per cent.

Stuart Currie, deputy leader of East Lothian Council, said a large factor in his area's population boom was people moving out of Edinburgh in search of less expensive housing.

He said: "People from all over Scotland come to live here, but a lot of people from Edinburgh move because they can get really good value in housing and they can commute easily."

He said the downside of an increasing population was extra pressure on community facilities and increased demand for homes.

"Private sector house building has virtually come to a standstill because of the economic situation and we have about 5500 on our waiting list. We are addressing that – we are building houses – but the population growth obviously hands us a challenge."

The figures, from the Registrar General for Scotland, show Edinburgh's population rose by 3580 to 471,650 – with more than two thirds of the increase down to people moving into the area. However, the city also saw 1070 more births than deaths.

A total of 28,383 people moved into Edinburgh – 10,817 from elsewhere in Scotland, 9136 from other parts of the UK and 8430 from overseas. But at the same time, 25,874 people left the city – 12,719 to other parts of Scotland, 7776 to other parts of the UK and 5379 overseas.

Longer-term statistics, showed East Lothian has experienced an 8.8 per cent population increase over the past ten years, compared to just 1.8 per cent for Scotland as a whole.

Edinburgh's population growth over the decade came in at 5.7 per cent.