Population Estimates: Young and Old

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Not assessed

Coherence - Further information on the population estimates can be found in methodology sections on the National Records of Scotland (NRS) website for Mid-year Population Estimates and Small Area Population Estimates.

Comparability - The statistics are designed to be consistent, and incorporate comparable historical data where appropriate. The small area estimates are consistent with the higher level mid-year estimates for council areas and for Scotland.

The estimates refer to the population as at 30 June each year. The population estimates and Scotland and council levels are usually published ten months after this data. The small area population estimates are usually published fourteen months after this date. The dates of publications are preannounced on the Future Publications section of the NRS website.

Population estimates are used for a variety of purposes including resource allocation and planning of services such as education and health. They are also used for calculating rates and performance measures, informing local and national policy, weighting surveys and in modelling the economy. In addition, population estimates at data zone level can be used as building blocks for a variety of different geographies that can inform planning, provision of services at sub-council area level and allocation of resources. They are used as the denominator to calculate many per capita rates and are available to use as the denominator in devising other rates a user might wish to create. The estimates are also important in a number of other applications, such as the development and maintenance of the Scottish Government's Urban Rural Classification and the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).

Population estimates are based on the 2022 Census and updated annually by 'ageing on' the population and applying information on births, deaths and migration.

The population estimates undergo quality assurance at each stage of production. NRS also have processes in place to quality assure the administrative sources used in the production of population estimates. Further information on the quality assurance of the population estimates can be found in the Mid-year Population Estimates Methodology Guide on the National Records of Scotland (NRS) website.

Population estimates are not subject to scheduled revision.
Revisions and corrections to previously published statistics are dealt with in accordance with the Scottish Government Statistician Group corporate policy statement on revisions and corrections - a copy of which is available on the Scottish Government website.
In February 2019, we updated our methodology for allocating Data Zones to higher geographies to align with Government Statistical Service Geography Policy. This resulted in revisions to some aggregated figures at Electoral Ward and Scottish Parliament Constituency level.

This dataset does not contain any sensitive or personal information.