Scotland: official figures: your questions answered
Scottish income tax receipts, population, GERS, GDP, drug deaths, Barnett funding, exam results, elections, police, council tax and NHS waits.
What is the population of Scotland?
Scotland's population was estimated at 5,545,500 on 30 June 2025, up 2,200 on a year earlier, according to National Records of Scotland's mid-2025 estimates, published on 14 July 2026. Deaths outnumbered births, so the growth came from migration.
NRS publishes estimates each year for all 32 council areas by age and sex, and separate population projections. Census results for 2022 are on Scotland's Census. For the UK total, see the UK population question.
Recent years are revised when new migration estimates arrive, so check the release date of any figure you compare.
Related: What is the population of the UK? · Where can I find UK census data? · What is the population of Wales? · What is the population of Northern Ireland?
How much is council tax in Scotland?
Each of Scotland's 32 councils sets its own Band D council tax every year. The Scottish Government publishes the rates for every council and band, the average bill per dwelling and the Band D series back to 1996-97 in its council tax datasets, including 2026-27.
Related: How much has council tax gone up this year? · How much is council tax in Wales? · How are domestic rates calculated in Northern Ireland?
Where can I find SQA exam results statistics?
Qualifications Scotland, which replaced the SQA as Scotland's awarding body, publishes provisional attainment statistics for National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher and other qualifications each August. The 2026 edition was published on 4 August 2026, with pass rates by subject, sex and type of centre, and tables by education authority.
Related: Where can I find official GCSE results statistics? · Where can I find GCSE results for Wales?
How big is the Scottish Government budget?
The Scottish Government publishes its budget each winter for the following financial year. The Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027 was presented to Parliament on 13 January 2026, with portfolio spending tables, tax decisions and a plain-English guide. The figures become law through the annual Budget (Scotland) Act.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission publishes the independent forecasts of devolved tax revenue, social security spending and the economy that the budget relies on. Outturn is in the Scottish Government's consolidated accounts.
The budget covers devolved spending only. For all public spending in Scotland, including UK government spending on pensions and defence, use GERS.
Related: How much does Scotland get from the Barnett formula? · How much does Scottish income tax raise, and does it stay in Scotland? · How is UK tax revenue spent?
How much does Scotland get from the Barnett formula?
The Barnett formula does not set Scotland's total funding; it sets the change. When UK government spending on a comparable area in England changes, Scotland's block grant changes by a population-based share. HM Treasury explains the method in its Statement of Funding Policy and publishes the year-by-year Barnett changes for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in Block Grant Transparency.
Related: How big is the Scottish Government budget? · What is Scotland's deficit (GERS)? · How big is the Welsh Government budget? · How much public money is spent in Northern Ireland?
How do Scottish Parliament elections work?
The Scottish Parliament has 129 MSPs elected by the additional member system: 73 represent constituencies, elected by first past the post, and 56 are elected from eight regional party lists to make the overall result more proportional. Each voter has two votes.
Related: Where can I find official UK election results? · How does the new Senedd voting system work? · How do Northern Ireland Assembly elections work?
What is Scotland's deficit (GERS)?
Scotland's notional net fiscal balance in 2025-26 was a deficit of £25.3 billion, or 10.9% of GDP, compared with 4.2% for the UK as a whole, according to Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2025-26, published on 12 August 2026. Revenue was £98.3 billion and spending for Scotland was £123.6 billion.
Related: How much is the UK government borrowing? · What is Scotland's GDP? · How much does Scotland get from the Barnett formula?
What is Scotland's GDP?
The Scottish Government publishes onshore GDP for Scotland monthly and quarterly. Its first estimate for April to June 2026, published on 26 August 2026, showed real growth of 0.7% on the quarter and 1.1% on the year, against 0.4% and 1.2% for the UK.
Full answer, with the latest figure and past values →
Related: How big is the UK economy (GDP)? · What is Scotland's deficit (GERS)? · What is the GDP of Wales?
How long are NHS Scotland waiting times?
Public Health Scotland estimated that 588,073 people were on at least one new outpatient, inpatient or day case waiting list on 31 August 2026, about one in nine of the population, in its monthly release of 29 September 2026. In August, 62.8% of new outpatients were seen within 12 weeks and 54.7% of inpatients and day cases were treated within the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee.
The release gives figures by NHS board and specialty, including waits over 52 and 104 weeks. A&E, cancer and diagnostic waits are in separate waiting times publications.
Waits are counted per appointment, so the number of waits is higher than the number of people.
Related: What are NHS waiting times in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? · How long is the NHS waiting list? · How long are NHS Wales waiting lists?
How many drug deaths are there in Scotland?
National Records of Scotland recorded 1,133 drug use deaths registered in 2025, up 11% on 2024, in Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2025, published on 23 September 2026. The age-standardised rate was 21.4 per 100,000 people, and the rate in the most deprived areas was 15 times that in the least deprived.
The report breaks deaths down by council area, NHS board, age, sex and the substances involved: opiates or opioids were implicated in 78% of deaths and cocaine in 52%. Public Health Scotland publishes wider data on drug harms and treatment.
Annual counts are by date of registration. For comparisons with England and Wales, see drug deaths across the UK.
Related: How many drug deaths are there in the UK? · What is the population of Scotland?
How much does Scottish income tax raise, and does it stay in Scotland?
Scottish taxpayers paid £18.6 billion of income tax on earnings, pensions and other non-savings income in 2024 to 2025, up 9.0% on the year, according to HMRC's Scottish Income Tax outturn statistics published on 9 July 2026. The release also counts taxpayers at each Scottish rate.
HMRC collects the tax, but the receipts fund the Scottish Government: its block grant is reduced by a block grant adjustment for the income tax it now controls, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. The Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts receipts for each budget, and outturn arrives over a year later.
For the rates and bands themselves, see Scottish income tax rates.
Related: What are the Scottish income tax rates? · How much income tax does the UK raise? · How much does Scotland get from the Barnett formula? · How do Welsh rates of income tax work?
How many police officers are there in Scotland?
The Scottish Government publishes police officer quarterly strength statistics for Police Scotland as at the end of March, June, September and December, as full-time equivalents. Police Scotland was formed in 2013 from eight regional forces.
The release also breaks officers down by local policing division. Recorded crime is in the Scottish Government's crime and justice statistics, which include the annual Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey.
Officer counts change from quarter to quarter as recruits join, so compare the same quarter in different years. Figures for England and Wales use a different source: see police numbers in England and Wales.
Related: How many police officers are there in England and Wales? · What is the crime rate in Northern Ireland?
These answers say where official figures are published and how they are defined. They give no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request.