Measuring progress - Economy

Percentage of residential and non-residential addresses where superfast broadband is available. Find out more about this indicator.

The percentage of residential and non-residential premises where superfast broadband is available increased from 87% in 2017 to 92% in 2018.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by local authority area and urban/rural breakdown. Urban/rural breakdown can be viewed below whilst local authority can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder. 

Latest Update: 05 July 2023

This indicator shows Scotland's carbon footprint expressed in million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Find out more about this indicator.

Scotland’s carbon footprint in 2019 was 75.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).  This is a reduction of 1.3 per cent over the year (from 76.9

Scotland’s carbon footprint reduced by 1.3 per cent between 2018 and 2019.

MtCO2e in 2018) and 32.5 per cent lower than peak levels during the calendar year 2006 (112.4 MtCO2e). 

Important information

Revisions to previously published estimates in this latest release mainly relate to the latter part of the time-series with a general increase in estimated emissions from the year 2000. The reasons for these revisions relate purely to an enhancement made to the underlying modelling. The increased sectoral disaggregation of the latest model allows results to be calculated for a larger number of sectors and products since the previous release. Find out more about the differences between the 2018 and 2019 Carbon Footprint data releases. 

The difference (percentage point) between GDP growth rate and the previous three year average. Find out more about this indicator.

The annual rate of change of GDP in Scotland in 2022 was 4.9% and the average annual GDP growth rate over the previous three years was ‑1.0%, giving a difference of 5.9%.

As the most recent growth rate was more than 0.1 percentage points above than the average for the previous three years, economic growth is currently improving.

The annual GDP growth rate of Scotland in 2022 was 5.9 percentage points higher than the average of the previous three years, indicating improving economic conditions.

The previous three year average that 2022 growth is being compared to includes 2020, during which many industries were required to cease trading during the lockdown for COVID-19, which resulted in a 12.2% fall in growth in that year.

It also includes 2021, which saw an 8.4% annual growth when many restrictions ceased. The 2024 update will be affected by the fact that the previous three years that it is being compared against will start with the year of the unprecedented bounce back after COVID-19 restrictions eased.

Latest Update: 15 September 2023

Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate: proportion of the adult working age population that is actively trying to start a business, or that own/manage a business which is less than 3.5 years old.  In order to improve the usefulness of this indicator for making policy decisions, the TEA rate is now, for the first time, measured as a 3-year rolling average. Find out more about this indicator.

The Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) 3-year rolling average rate in Scotland increased by 0.5 percentage points between 2019-2021 and 2020-2022 to 8.5%. The 3 year rolling average TEA rate has increased by 3.3 percentage points since 2004, the first year for which comparable data is available.

Despite a difficult business environment caused by challenging global economic circumstances, the three year rolling average of Scotland’s Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate in Scotland maintained, at 8.5%.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. these breakdowns are available as charts below.

Greenhouse gas emissions as a percentage change achieved from the baseline figure in 1990. Find out more about this indicator.

In 2021, Scotland’s GHG Account for assessing progress to statutory targets, indicated a reduction of 49.9 per cent, compared to a target of a 51.1 per cent reduction.  As a result, the emissions reduction target was not met in 2021.

In 2019-22, the total household income of the top ten percent of the population as measured by the Palma ratio was 18% higher compared to that of the bottom forty percent. This compares to 20%, 21% and 24% higher incomes in the three previous periods. Find out more about this indicator.

More information is available in the poverty statistics report.

This indicator cannot be meaningfully broken down by equality characteristics. However, the related indicator “relative poverty” shows which groups in the population are more likely to have lower incomes than others.

The value, in GBP millions, of Scottish exports (excluding oil and gas). Find out more about this indicator.

In 2019, the value of Scotland’s international exports (excluding oil and gas) stood at £35.1 billion. This represents an increase of 3.4% on the previous year when Scottish international exports were valued at £33.9 billion. Exports increased in almost every year between 2010 and 2019 (2014 was the exception) and in 2019, were 43.0% higher than in 2010.

The total value of Scotland’s international exports increased between 2010 and 2019 from £24.5 billion to £35.1 billion, respectively. This is an increase of 43.0% over this period (an average of 4.1% per year).

Latest Update: 05 July 2023

The Natural Capital Asset Index (NCAI) monitors the quality and quantity of terrestrial habitats in Scotland, according to their potential to deliver ecosystem services now and into the future. It is a composite index, based (i.e. equal to 100) in the year 2000. 

Due to changes in the methodology of some of the underlying biodiversity data some historical headline values of the NCAI have changed slightly, although the general trends remain the same. Find out more about this indicator.

The NCAI was 102.7 in 2021 – unchanged from its 2020 value and 0.2 points higher than its 2018 value. It has remained relatively stable since detailed monitoring began in 2000.

NatureScot will continue to work with stakeholders, including the Scottish Government, to refine the NCAI methodology and data.

The trends by ecosystem service type (Provisioning, Regulation and Maintenance. and Cultural) largely mirror the trend shown by the overall Natural Capital Asset Index.

This indicator can be broken down by category and habitat. Breakdowns can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.

Scotland's Rank for productivity against key trading partners in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Find out more about this indicator.

In 2020 Scotland was ranked in 16th place (out of 38 countries) for productivity levels amongst OECD countries. There has been no change in ranking in the latest year.

The Scottish Government has an ambition to reach the top quartile of OECD countries in terms of productivity. Scotland’s productivity has remained in the second quartile since 2000, and has been at 16th position in each year since 2008.

Scotland’s productivity rank among OECD member countries has been maintained at 16th in 2020. Productivity levels in Scotland were 82.9% of the lowest level in the top quartile (Austria).

This indicator measures Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) as a percentage of GDP. Find out more about this indicator.

Total research and development spending as a share of GDP was estimated at 1.66% for Scotland in 2019, the same share as in 2018.

Over the longer term spending on research and development has increased, from an estimated 1.24% of GDP in 2007 to 1.66% of GDP in 2019.  The increase in spending since 2007 has been driven by a rise in Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) expenditure.

In 2019, the sector with the highest spending on research and development was the business enterprise sector (representing 0.84% of GDP), followed by the higher education sector (0.69% of GDP), government (0.11% of GDP) and private non-profit organisations (0.03% of GDP)

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by sector, and can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.

Important Information

We have put a pause on the updating of the ‘Spend on Research and Development (R&D)’ national indicator until more work can be carried out to quality assure the underlying source data.

This national indicator measures Scotland’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GERD as a share of GDP is taken from the annual Scottish Government (SG) GERD publication. GERD includes R&D undertaken by business enterprise (BERD). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been leading a redevelopment project for R&D statistics. The first phase of the project concluded with the publication of the latest ONS Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) estimates, which reflect significant methodological changes. There is currently uncertainty over the robustness of the detailed breakdowns of the new BERD estimates, which includes the data for Scotland. The ONS have put a temporary pause on the National Statistics status of the detailed breakdowns of BERD until the second stage of the redevelopment project completes in 2023. The National Statistics status of the Scottish Government (SG) GERD publication has similarly been put on pause. More detail is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/gross-expenditure-on-research-and-development-scotland-2020/