have grown to 1,000,000. In 1755, according to the returns furnished by the clergy to the Rev. Dr Alexander Webster (1707–1784), minister of the Tron Kirk, Edinburgh—who had been commissioned by Lord President Dundas to prepare a census for government,—it was 1,265,380. At the first government census (1801) it had reached 1,608,420. The increase at succeeding decades has been continuous though fluctuating in amount, and in 1901 the population amounted to 4,472,103 (females, 2,298,348). In 1902 the Registrar-General for Scotland calculated that if the rate of increase (11·09%) manifest during 1891–1901 were uniformly maintained, the population would double itself in the course of about 66 years.
Civil Counties. | Area in Acres. |
Population. | Pop. per sq. m. 1901. | |
1891. | 1901. | |||
I. Northern. | ||||
1. Shetland | 352,889 | 28,711 | 28,166 | 51 |
2. Orkney | 240,476 | 30,453 | 28,699 | 76 |
3. Caithness | 438,878 | 37,177 | 33,870 | 49 |
4. Sutherland | 1,297,849 | 21,896 | 21,440 | 11 |
2,330,092 | 118,237 | 112,175 | 31 | |
II. North-Western. | ||||
5. Ross and Cromarty | 1,976,707 | 78,727 | 76,450 | 25 |
6. Inverness | 2,695,037 | 90,121 | 90,104 | 21 |
4,671,744 | 168,848 | 166,554 | 23 | |
III. North-Eastern. | ||||
7. Nairn | 103,429 | 9,155 | 9,291 | 57 |
8. Elgin (or Moray) | 305,119 | 43,471 | 44,890 | 94 |
9. Banff | 403,364 | 61,684 | 61,488 | 98 |
10. Aberdeen | 1,261,887 | 284,036 | 304,439 | 154 |
11. Kincardine | 243,974 | 35,492 | 40,923 | 107 |
2,317,773 | 433,838 | 460,941 | 127 | |
IV. East Midland. | ||||
12. Forfar | 559,171 | 277,735 | 284,082 | 325 |
13. Perth | 1,595,774 | 122,185 | 123,283 | 49 |
14. Fife | 322,844 | 190,365 | 218,840 | 434 |
15. Kinross | 52,410 | 6,673 | 6,981 | 85 |
16. Clackmannan | 34,927 | 33,140 | 32,029 | 587 |
2,565,126 | 630,098 | 665,215 | 166 | |
V. West Midland. | ||||
17. Stirling | 288,842 | 118,021 | 142,291 | 315 |
18. Dumbarton | 157,433 | 98,014 | 113,865 | 463 |
19. Argyll | 1,990,471 | 74,085 | 73,642 | 24 |
20. Bute | 139,658 | 18,404 | 18,787 | 86 |
2,576,404 | 308,524 | 348,585 | 87 | |
VI. South-Western. | ||||
21. Renfrew | 153,332 | 230,812 | 268,980 | 1123 |
22. Ayr | 724,523 | 226,386 | 254,468 | 225 |
23. Lanark | 562,821 | 1,105,899 | 1,339,327 | 1523 |
1,440,676 | 1,563,097 | 1,862,775 | 827 | |
VII. South-Eastern. | ||||
24. Linlithgow | 76,861 | 52,808 | 65,708 | 547 |
25. Edinburgh | 234,339 | 434,276 | 488,796 | 1335 |
26. Haddington | 171,011 | 37,377 | 38,665 | 145 |
27. Berwick | 292,577 | 32,290 | 30,824 | 67 |
28. Peebles | 222,599 | 14,750 | 15,066 | 43 |
29. Selkirk | 170,762 | 27,712 | 23,356 | 88 |
1,168,149 | 599,213 | 662,415 | 363 | |
VIII. Southern. | ||||
30. Roxburgh | 426,060 | 53,500 | 48,804 | 73 |
31. Dumfries | 686,302 | 74,245 | 72,571 | 68 |
32. Kirkcudbright | 575,565 | 39,985 | 39,383 | 44 |
33. Wigtown | 311,609 | 36,062 | 32,685 | 67 |
Grand Total | 1,999,536 | 203,792 | 193,443 | 62 |
Scotland | 19,069,500 | 4,025,647 | 4,472,103 | 150 |
In 1901 there were 150 persons to each square mile, and 4·3 acres (excluding inland waters, tidal rivers and foreshore) to each person. The distribution of population is illustrated in the preceding table, which gives the names and areas of the counties and other particulars.
In the northern, north-western and southern divisions the population declined during the decade, the fifteen counties thus affected being, in the order of decrease, beginning with the shire in which it was smallest, Inverness, Banff, Argyll, Kirkcudbright, Shetland, Sutherland, Dumfries, Ross and Cromarty, Clackmannan, Berwick, Orkney, Roxburgh, Caithness, Wigtown and Selkirk. It will thus be seen that the far north and far south alike decreased in population, the decline being largely due to physical conditions, though it need not be supposed that the limit of population was reached in either area. The most sparsely inhabited county was Sutherland, the most densely Lanark. The counties in which there was the largest increase in the decennial period—with Linlithgow first, followed by Lanark, Stirling, Renfrew, Dumbarton and thirteen others—principally belonged to the Central Plain, or Lowlands, in which, broadly stated, industries and manufactures, trade, commerce and agriculture and educational facilities have attained their highest development. In every county the population increased between 1801 and 1841, the increase being more than 10% in each county with the exception of Argyll, Perth and Sutherland. After 1841, however, the population in several Highland shires—in which the clearance of crofters to make way for deer was one of the most strongly-felt grievances among the Celtic part of the people—in the islands, and in some of the southern counties, diminished. The next table affords a comparison of the numbers of the population as grouped in towns, villages and rural districts, and in the mainland and islands.
Groups. | Population. | Percentage of Pop.& in each to total Pop. | ||
1891. | 1901. | 1891. | 1901. | |
Towns* | 2,631,298 | 3,120,241 | 65·37 | 69·77 |
Villages* | 465,836 | 466,053 | 11·57 | 10·42 |
Rural districts | 928,513 | 885,809 | 23·06 | 19·81 |
Total | 4,025,647 | 4,472,103 | 100·00 | 100·00 |
Mainland | 3,865,748 | 4,316,551 | 96·03 | 96·52 |
Islands | 159,899 | 155,552 | 3·97 | 3·48 |
Total | 4,025,647 | 4,472,103 | 100·00 | 100·00 |
*Villages have populations of from 300 to 2000; towns from 2000 upwards.
Table III. gives the population of towns with more than 30,000 inhabitants.
Town. | 1881. | 1891. | 1901. |
Glasgow | 551,415 | 565,839 (of enlarged area, 658,198) | 760,468 |
Edinburgh | 228,357 | 261,225 (of enlarged area) | 316,523 |
Dundee | 140,239 | 153,330 | 160,878 |
Aberdeen | 105,189 | 121,623 | 153,503 |
Paisley | 55,638 | 166,425 | 79,354 |
Leith | 59,485 | 67,700 | 76,668 |
Govan | 50,492 | 63,625 | 76,350 |
Greenock | 66,704 | 63,423 | 67,672 |
Partick | 27,410 | 36,538 | 54,281 |
Coatbridge | 24,812 | 30,034 | 36,991 |
Kilmarnock | 23,901 | 28,447 | 34,165 |
Kirkcaldy | 23,632 | 27,151 | 34,063 |
Perth | 28,980 | 29,899 | 32,886 |
Hamilton | 18,517 | 24,859 | 32,775 |
Motherwell | 12,904 | 18,726 | 30,418 |