Scots are not having babies
According to the National Records of Scotland, Scotland’s experiencing the second LOWEST fertility rate since they began collecting such data back in 1855. The data released is from 2021, where 47,786 live births occurred, 2% higher than 2020, but this still being the second lowest.
There were 10% more excess deaths relative to the “pre-pandemic 5 year average” this nearly totalled 6,000 deaths. Moreover, 2021 set a new record high over the previous 2020 record in infant mortality. The new record summed out to 3.9 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2021 (3.1 per 1000 in year 2020). This data tracks with a record setting low fertility rate of 1.29 in 2021 relative to 1.31 in 2020. It’s important to note that a fertility rate of 2.1 is required to sustain an existing population.
Scotland also has continued their downward trajectory in population with more deaths than births for the 7th year in row (15,801 fewer births than deaths in 2021).
Marriages however seem to have rebounded back to their 2019 levels, but continue to remain suppressed compared to their average.
To continue with slightly outdated data, in 2019 there was a net increase of over 20,000 migrants from overseas coming to Scotland relative to those leaving Scotland. In the same year, a net of over 10,000 people from within the UK moved to Scotland relative to leaving to other UK countries. Migration has been able to keep the statistics somewhat unnoticeable for Scotland but the bottom line is that the Scottish people are on a declining trajectory.
Write in here with your own articles surrounding this trend for Scotland, what can be done to reverse the trend or the reasons why these numbers are not improving.
Having some Scottish blood in me, I say
#StayOnTheBall, Scotland.
