Series 3 > Scottish population statistics, including Webster's Analysis of population, 1755

XXII
WEBSTER’S CENSUS
It would appear that from 1931 up to the end of hostilities
in 1945 Scotland gained by migration and that the loss of
some 220,000 has occurred in the six years preceding the
census date in 1951. This fact would seem to indicate a
much more serious drain on the Scottish population than
is represented by a loss of 220,000 in twenty years.
No country on the continent of Europe has lost such
a high proportion of her people as Scotland, and if
comparison is made between Scottish losses and those of
England and Wales the great exodus of the Scots is
apparent from the following startling figures :—
Table III
Net Loss by Migration
1901-1911
1911-1921
1921-1931
1931-1951
172000
745000
(Gain)
254000
239000
392000
220000
In each of the decennial periods up to 1931 Scotland’s
rate of loss is much greater than that of England and
Wales, but her loss reached a climax in the ten years
1921-31 when it was sixteen times that south of the
Border. In actual numbers the loss in England and Wales
was less than half that of Scotland, notwithstanding
the fact that their population is eight times that of
Scotland.
It is a significant fact, as is shown in the above table,
that while England and Wales gained by migration nearly