Scottish population grows due to immigration

BBC News:

Scotland's population has seen its largest inward migration in more than 50 years, according to latest figures.

Statistics from the Registrar General for Scotland suggested the population had risen for the second year running.

There were 5,078,400 people living in Scotland in June 2004 - an increase of 21,000 on the previous year and a rise of 23,600 on 2002.

The country gained 26,000 people through migration - the largest rise since current records began in 1952.

About 61,900 people came to Scotland from the rest of the UK, with 41,600 people heading in the opposite direction.

An estimated 36,300 people, including asylum seekers, came to Scotland from overseas, while 24,600 went overseas from Scotland.

The number of births rose by 3.4%, but there were still 4,000 more deaths than births.

The figures also took into account a reduction of 1,000 due to changes in the armed forces and prison populations.

Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh and Clackmannanshire were the council areas with the highest population rises, while Aberdeen City, Dundee and Inverclyde recorded the largest drops.

Scotland faces the fastest-falling population in Europe.

It is expected that the country's population will dip below five million by 2017.

First Minister Jack McConnell said earlier this year that the country's falling population was the "single biggest challenge facing Scotland in the 21st century".

Mr McConnell launched the Fresh Talent project last year after outlining the challenges posed by the ageing population.

It is aimed at boosting Scotland's dwindling population by attracting 8,000 new people each year until 2009.

If the British colonists living in the north of Ireland were just repatriated back to Britain then the problems of both the Six Counties and Scotland could be solved.