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It seems that England is not the only nation in the UK experiencing an ever growing population, aided by the rise in immigration. Scotland's population has increased for the third year running to almost 5.1 million.
The official figures revealed April 28, show Scotland has experienced the second largest wave of people travelling from other countries to work and set up home out of the Countries in the UK. This is the main reason for the population boom in Scotland.
Last year, almost 20,000 more people immigrated from abroad or from other parts of the UK, helping to swell the population to 5,094,800 in 2005. It is the second-highest figure for Scotland to date - 7000 below the previous year's record figure of 26,000.
Overall, a total of almost 93,000 people came to live and work in Scotland from the UK and abroad, while only 73,000 decided to leave Scotland for a better life overseas in the last year.
Edinburgh City had one of the highest percentage increases in population in the annual report published by the Registrar General for Scotland.
The Capital's population has grown two per cent since 2001 to 457,830, whilst Midlothian is the only local authority area in the Lothians to have seen a fall in population.
Jack McConnell said the figures today showed what an attractive country Scotland is for foreigners wanting to settle down and would continue to be a vital part of Scottish Executive policy.
City leaders from Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire, Highland and Falkirk are excited and pleased that foreigners have taken to the Scottish way of life, and started to build their new lives in their cities.
"All the signs are, with a strong economy and one of the most beautiful cities in the world, that more people will want to come from abroad," said the Edinburgh mayor.
Around 57,300 people came to Scotland from England, Wales and Northern Ireland and around 44,800 left Scotland to go to in the opposite direction.
Around 35,400 people came to Scotland from overseas and around 28,100 people left to go overseas.
Today's figures also revealed there were almost 700 more births and over 1000 fewer deaths than in the previous year.
However, deaths still exceeded the number of births, by about 2300.
