Details of 1911 census in Scotland released

On the night of April 2 a century ago the population of Scotland was 4,759,445.

The population had risen 6% since the last census a decade before.

The quick growth was spurred partly by better health and the resulting improvements in child mortality rates, and partly by immigration.

However it was the last survey before the First World War, during which many tens of thousands of young people recorded in 1911 would have been killed.

The archives have been opened because the 100-year closure period which follows each census has expired and are now available online.

Register General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said: "We are today releasing details we have kept secret for a century, just as we are today promising to do with the information collected by the 2011 Census.

"People in 100 years will be able to read the information their ancestors are today contributing to this year's census.

"The 1911 Census gives us a snapshot of what Scotland was like just before the great cataclysm of the Great War.

"Many thousands of the young people recorded here never returned from the battlefields of Europe."

The 1911 census showed that Fife's population increased by 22% on the previous decade but in Orkney it had shrunk by 10%.

This reflected Scotland's industrialisation and people's drift from rural areas to towns and cities, according to Mr Macniven.

Lanarkshire, Fife, Dumbarton and Renfrew had the greatest population increases and Inverness, Orkney, Argyll and Forfar had the greatest drops.

The top five occupations for men in 1911 were in iron and other metal manufacture, followed by agriculture, coal mining, building and commerce such as being a clerk.

Most women were in domestic service at the time. The next highest proportions were in textile factories, making and selling clothes and agriculture.

Russians made up the largest number of foreigners (6,102), followed by Polish (4,930), Italians (4,594), Germans (2,362) and those from the US (1,176).

Just six Mexicans were officially in Scotland on the night of the census.

In 1911, Scotland had 2,307,603 males and 2,451,842 females.

Deaths in the First World War meant that the number of males remained at around 2.3 million between the 1911 and 1921 censuses. Between the 1901 and 1911 censuses the male population increased by 11.9%.

Almost 150,000 Scottish males were killed in the First World War. This was followed by a worldwide flu pandemic between 1918 and 1919 in which around 22,000 people in Scotland died.

The 1911 Census was the 12th since the first one was compiled in 1801 which had showed a population of 1.6 million. Mechanical tabulation was used to process the statistics for the first time, making the task quicker and easier. Hollerith machines were used which featured a punch card system.

The Census is available on the ScotlandsPeople website www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh.