A positive experience for people coming to live in Scotland
This indicator is intended to measure one important dimension of migrants’ experiences in Scotland – a strong sense of belonging. Find out more about this indicator.
In 2019, 67.3% of migrants reported that they “very strongly” or “fairly strongly” felt they belonged to their immediate neighbourhood.
Migrants’ sense of belonging has remained similar to the previous year, rising from 66.4% of migrants reporting feeling that they very or fairly strongly feel they belong in their neighbourhood in 2018 to 67.3% in 2019.
This figure compares with a high of 69.5% In 2012.
Data breakdowns
This indicator can be broken down by age, gender, socio-economic status, and urban/rural classification. These breakdowns can be viewed in the charts below.
This indicator can also be broken down by country of origin and year of arrival:
- In 2019, 74.8% of migrants from the rest of the UK reported that they felt they belong in their neighbourhood, compared to 59.5% of migrants from overseas.
- Information on the year of arrival in Scotland is only available for overseas migrants, not for migrants from the rest of the UK. In 2019, 66.2% of overseas migrants who are living in Scotland and have been living in the UK for five years or more reported feeling that they belong in their neighbourhood, compared to 45.4% of migrants who had been living in Scotland for five years or less.
Performance Maintaining
Migrants’ feeling of belonging increased with age, with the 75+ age group reporting the highest feeling of belonging in their neighbourhood (87.1%), and the 16-24 age group reporting the lowest feeling of belonging (50.7%), although the small sample size of this age group requires cautious interpretation. Again, this includes migrants from overseas and the rest of the UK.
There is no statistically significant difference between female and male migrants with regards to their feeling of belonging.
Migrants from the rest of the UK and overseas living in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland reported the lowest feeling of belonging of 53.1%, while those living in the least deprived quintile reported a feeling of belonging at 70.7%.
81.2% of migrants from overseas and the rest of the UK living in rural areas reported that they felt they belonged to their neighbourhood, compared to 64.0% in urban areas.
Contribution of development support to other nations
This indicator measures Scotland's contribution of development support to other nations. Find out more about this indicator.
Scotland's contribution of development support to other nations was indexed at 100 in 2017, intended to be the baseline year.
Performance for this indicator is currently assess as "performance to be confirmed". This is due to this indicator being a newly developed indicator, taking 2017 as a baseline year for the indicator to be indexed against. While data exists for this indicator prior to 2017, is is felt that the most appropriate way of assessing performance would be comparing performance from 2017 forward.
Data for 2017 is expected to be added in due course, with the publication of the "International Networks" indicator.
Performance to be confirmed
International networks
This indicator is in development which means we do not yet have data to report for this indicator.
We will publish data on this indicator as soon as it becomes available.
Indicator in development
Scotland's population
Latest update: 13 July 2022
Whilst Scotland’s total population has grown, this is not uniform across all of Scotland. This measure helps monitor how many councils are experiencing depopulation. Over the latest year to mid-2021, eight council areas experienced a falling population including the cities and some areas in the west of Scotland. This is an improving position from 20 council areas in mid-2020. Find out more about this indicator.
Data breakdowns
See maps for details of population change by council area, as well as population change by small area (data zone), which show that every council has areas of population growth and decline.
The local authority with the largest percentage population decrease was Dundee City at -0.7% (a decrease of 1,100 people), while Midlothian had the largest percentage increase at 1.6% (an increase of 1,530 people).
While eight areas faced a decline in their population over the year to mid-2021, this varies by age group. The majority of council areas experienced a decline in the population aged 0 to 15 (26 out of 32).
The population aged 16 to 64 increased in most areas (22 out of 32) and all council areas saw an increase in the population aged 65 and over.
In the year to mid-2021, cities and some council areas in the west of Scotland experienced depopulation. In contrast, rural areas and areas neighbouring the larger cities saw the greatest population growth.
Important information
The Scottish Government’s Ministerial Taskforce on Population is helping tackle Scotland’s population challenges – find out more about the population taskforce and access the population dashboard to see the full range of indicators being used to monitor progress.
Performance Improving
Scotland's reputation
Latest Update: 14 February 2023
The latest figures in 2022 show that Scotland’s overall score for reputation is improving internationally. Scotland’s overall score on the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands IndexSM (NBISM) was 65.3 in 2022, an increase of 2.7 points since the last measurement in 2020 (62.6). Find out more about this indicator.
The score positions Scotland 15th across 60 measured countries around the world. Countries that did better than Scotland and ranked in the Top 10 were Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, and Australia.
Data breakdowns
Overall, respondents in the older age groups (45 years and over; and 30-44 years) tended to have a more positive image of Scotland than individuals in the youngest age group (18 to 29 years). Those aged 30 to 44 years scored Scotland higher than the other age groups across four out of the six dimensions. Across two dimensions the scores from the two older age groups were tied.
Women scored Scotland higher than men across the Culture, People, and Tourism dimensions. Men scored Scotland higher than women across the Exports, Governance, and Immigration and Investment dimensions.
Important information
Please note, although the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index is an annual survey, the Scottish Government has subscribed to it biennially since 2010. This is because the year-on-year changes in ranks and scores are generally small and can be adequately captured over a longer time period.
Performance Improving
Public services treat people with dignity and respect
Latest update: January 2024
This indicator is in development which means we do not yet have data to report for this indicator.
We will publish data on this indicator as soon as it becomes available.
Indicator in development