Scotland suffered “negative natural change” in its population as deaths outnumbered births last year, prompting calls for a separate immigration policy.
It is the eighth consecutive year that deaths have exceeded births.
There were an estimated 62,942 deaths and 46,959 births in Scotland during 2022, meaning a shortfall of 16,000. A total of 12,000 births were registered in the final three months of last year, with this total down by 5 per cent when compared with the average for this period over the past five years.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths was 9 per cent above the average, with National Records of Scotland (NRS) data showing 16,856 deaths were recorded in October to December last year.
Stuart McDonald MP, the SNP’s immigration spokesman, said that
