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Scottish cities

Residents born outside the UK in selected Scottish cities
pop nonUK COB Scot CitiesEdinburgh and Aberdeen have the highest percentages of residents born outside the UK, 24% and 22%, respectively, in 2020/21. Glasgow's has a lower figure of 14%.

There has been a steady rise in the number and percentage of Scotland’s population born outside the UK since the early 2000s. This trend has also been seen in Scotland’s largest cities, in which the proportions of non-UK born residents are higher than average.

In Scotland people from the EU make up roughly half of non-UK nationals and Poles make up the largest grouping of non-UK nationals.   

Percentage of the population born outside the UK in selected Scottish cities, 2001 and 2011

Born outside UK Scottish cities TRENDThe percentage of the population born outside the UK almost doubled in all of the selected Scottish cities. In Scotland, the percentage of the population not born in the UK increased from 4% to 7%.

Notes

The figures presented in the first graph above are estimates based on survey data and exclude certain population groups (students in halls who do not have a UK resident parent and people in most other types of communal establishments e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels and mobile home sites). The data used in these charts were originally published by National Records of Scotland.  

The second graph shows trend comparisons based on the 2001 and 2011 Censuses and so the data are less up-to-date.

Further reading under ‘Born outside the UK’