Scotland

Population

Scotland’s population is 5,168,500 (Source: Scottish Population Statistics).
Approximate figures for the main Scottish urban areas are;-

Glasgow	580,000,
Edinburgh	450,000
Aberdeen	180,000
Dundee	140,000
Inverness	43,000

Geography

Covering an area of 78,807 sq km, Scotland is divided into 32 council areas. The capital Edinburgh, situated on the east coast of central lowlands, is Scotland’s second largest city. Glasgow is the country’s biggest city. Aberdeen and Dundee are among the other well-known cities. Scotland has around 790 islands, of which 130 are inhabited. The best known are the Shetland and Orkney isles in the north-east and Lewis, Harris, Skye, Mull and Islay in the Hebrides.

Economy

With a GDP per capita of GBP16,200, Scotland is one of the largest regions of the UK. The employment rate is 76.8 % and almost a fifth of Scottish manufacturing jobs are in electronics. Other key fields include construction, food and drink. Electronics, together with other such ‘knowledge-based’ industries as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, software design and digital media occupy a central place in the Scottish government’s development strategy. The government’s policies have focused on improving the country’s skills base and expanding its international performance, with the university sector regarded as a key economic seed-bed. Beneath a widely-drawn ‘creative industries’ banner, recent government initiatives have also identified the cultural field as a priority target for development. Among the country’s longer-standing economic specialisms, fishing and fish-farming, financial services, textiles, hydro-electricity and nuclear power all play a significant role, while agriculture and forestry are important rural employers.

Scotland's Top Industries (2007 estimates from scotland.org)

	GBP billions
Food & Drink	4.6
Chemicals	2.3
Wholesale, retail & accommodation	1.9
Business Services	1.9
Office Machinery	1.2

Dining Out

The contemporary Scottish diet mixes indigenous and overseas influences, with new Scottish dishes being created that rely on the country’s same excellent produce, but which are perhaps slightly more refined than the dishes of the past. So, you will find Aberdeen Angus steaks served in whisky sauce and native shellfish transformed into elegant dishes by Scottish chefs. Arbroath smokies, Lochfyne kippers, Forfar Bridies, Selkirk bannocks, Orkney, Islay or Galloway cheeses, Dundee cake and Moffat toffee are some of the local delicacirs. Scotch whisky is produced in some of the most beautiful areas of the country - along the River Spey, in the Highlands, west of Aberdeen and on the islands off the west coast. Many of the distilleries lie along official ‘whisky trails’ and welcome visitors.

Transport

Scotland has five main international airports in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Prestwick and Inverness serving 150 international destinations. Scotland has a very developed rail network which has around 340 railway stations, 3,000 kilometres of track and over 62 million passenger journeys are made on the network each year. The rail network in the west of Scotland is the most heavily used commuter network in the UK outside London and caters for around 60% of passenger journeys made in Scotland.

Arts & Culture

There are twelve international festivals each year in Edinburgh alone: apart from Edinburgh International Festival, which takes place in the city each August, there is the vast Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival (the largest of its kind in the world), the famous Edinburgh Tattoo, the Children’s Festival, the Science Festival, the Film and Television Festival, the Jazz and Blues Festival and the multicultural Edinburgh Mela. Aberdeen has a dynamic biennial literary festival – Word – and Glasgow has its own Jazz and Blues Festival and the exciting Celtic Connections showcasing the best of contemporary bands. Lewis and Skye also have music festivals with a Gaelic twist and the Gaels also have their own annual festival, The Mod, which moves from location to location.

Lifestyle & Outdoor Recreation

It was a Scotsman, William McGregor, who set up the first English football league and it was in Scotland that the first ever international match was played: in Partick, Glasgow where England and Scotland drew 0-0 in 1872. A great journey through Scotland’s footballing history can be had at the Scottish Football Museum, which is housed in Scotland's national stadium, Hampden Park in Glasgow. The country is also a host of wonderful public golf courses. Scotland’s many mountain ranges – from the Cairngorms to Glenshee and Glencoe – offer some of the most exhilarating winter climbing in the world. With over 6,000 lochs and lakes and 6,200 miles of coastline, Scotland is also a perfect place for all kinds of watersports from canoeing, kayaking and surfing to diving and sailing.

On the Net

http://www.scotland.org

http://www.direct.gov.uk

http://www.scotland.org

http://www.visitscotland.com

Weather

Generally, Scotland is more cloudy than England, due mainly to the hilly nature of the terrain and the proximity of low-pressure systems from the Atlantic. The dullest parts of Scotland are the more mountainous areas, with an annual average of less than 1,100 hours of sunshine over the mountains of the Highland region. The relatively high latitude of Scotland means that although winter days are very short, this is amply compensated by long summer days with an extended twilight. On the longest day there is no complete darkness in the north of Scotland. Lerwick, in Shetland, has about four hours more daylight (including twilight) at midsummer than London.

Over Scotland the mean annual air temperature at low altitude ranges from about 7°C on Shetland, in the far north, to 9 °C on the coasts of Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway in the south-west. In general, January and February are the coldest months. The daytime maximum temperatures over low ground in Scotland in January and February average around 5 to 7 °C.

July and August are normally the warmest months in Scotland. The highest temperatures normally occur inland, away from the moderating influence of the cooler sea. The highest air temperature recorded in Scotland was 32.9 °C at Greycrook (Scottish Borders) on 9 August 2003.

Below are the average temperature and rainfall figures for Edinburgh:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Avg. Max.

6°C

6°C

8°C

11°C

14°C

17°C

18°C

18°C

16°C

13°C

8°C

7°C

Avg. Min.

0°C

0°C

1°C

3°C

6°C

8°C

10°C

10°C

8°C

6°C

2°C

1°C

Mean

3°C

3°C

5°C

7°C

10°C

13°C

14°C

14°C

12°C

9°C

6°C

4°C

Avg. Precip.

56 mm

43 mm

51 mm

41 mm

51 mm

51 mm

56 mm

66 mm

66 mm

66 mm

64 mm

58 mm