Migration drive to lead to Scottish Central Belt population boom

Scotland's population growth is to focus on the Central Belt with 24 local authority areas out of 32 expected to experience growth over the next few years.

Scotlands population reached a record high in June 2016. Picture: John Devlin

Migration from foreign countries, the rest of the UK and elsewhere in Scotland will account for the concentration of the population, according to projections published by the National Records of Scotland yesterday.

Overall Scotland’s population is forecast to increase by 3.2 per cent in the ten years between 2016 and 2026.

The council which will experience the most dramatic growth will be Midlothian where the population is expected to increase by 13.3 per cent. It is followed by East Lothian (8.6 per cent), Edinburgh (7.7 per cent) and East Renfrewshire (7.6 per cent). The majority of councils will experience fewer births than deaths, leaving migration as the driving force behind the growth.