Economy of Scotland

Economy of Scotland

Edinburgh, the financial centre of Scotland
Currency	Pound sterling (£)
Fiscal year	1 April to 31 March[a]
Statistics
Population	5,436,600 (2022)[1]
GDP	£209.5 billion (onshore only, 2024) £223.4 billion (incl. oil and gas extraction, 2024)[2]
GDP per capita	£37,834 (onshore only, 2024) £40,339 (incl. oil and gas extraction, 2024)[2]
Gini coefficient	33 (2020–2023)[3]
Labour force	2,613,000 / 73.1% in employment (Jan–Mar 2024)[b][4]
Labour force by occupation	List 27.0% Professional 16.5% Associate professional 9.7% Elementary occupations 9.4% Skilled trades 9.2% Administrative and secretarial 8.5% Caring, leisure and other service 7.7% Managers, directors and senior officials 6.8% Sales and customer service 4.8% Process plant and machine operatives (Jan–Dec 2023)[c][4]
Unemployment	120,000 / 4.4% (Jan–Mar 2024)[d][4]
Average gross salary	£739.70 per week (2024)[e][5]
Average net salary	£2,485 (2024)[6]
Main industries	Agriculture (£2.7 billion)[7] forestry (£1.1 billion)[8] fisheries (£655 million)[9] Oil and gas extraction (£25.2 billion)[10] Manufacturing (£35.1 billion)[11] Creative industries (£5.7 billion) Financial services (£14.3 billion) Transportation and storage (£8.3 billion)[12] Tourism (£4.9 billion) Food and drink (£5.4 billion)[13]
External
Exports	£50.1 billion (2021)[f][14]
Export goods	List £9.3bn Mineral fuels £6.1bn Machinery and transport £4.2bn Beverages and tobacco £3.0bn Chemicals £2.4bn Manufactured goods £1.7bn Miscellaneous manufactures £1.7bn Food and live animals £0.6bn Crude materials £0.0bn Animal and vegetable oils £0.0bn Other commodities £28.9bn Total (2021)[g][15]
Main export partners	List £16.4bn European Union £4.4bn Asia & Oceania £3.8bn North America £1.4bn Western Europe (excl. EU) £1.2bn Middle East and North Africa (excl. EU) £0.7bn Latin America and Caribbean £0.6bn Sub-Saharan Africa £0.5bn Eastern Europe (excl. EU) £0.0bn Undefined country group £28.9bn Total (2021)[g][15]
Imports	£29.2 billion (2021)[f][14]
Import goods	List £7.8bn Machinery and transport £6.3bn Mineral fuels £2.8bn Manufactured goods £2.5bn Miscellaneous manufactures £2.4bn Chemicals £1.7bn Food and live animals £0.8bn Crude materials £0.6bn Beverages and tobacco £0.1bn Animal and vegetable oils £0.0bn Other commodities £24.9bn Total (2021)[g][15]
Main import partners	List £7.8bn European Union £6.7bn Western Europe (excl. EU) £5.7bn Asia & Oceania £3.1bn North America £0.5bn Eastern Europe (excl. EU) £0.4bn Middle East and North Africa (excl. EU) £0.4bn Latin America and Caribbean £0.3bn Sub-Saharan Africa — Undefined country group £24.9bn Total (2021)[g][15]

Scotland has an economy which is an open mixed economy, mainly services based, which had an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of £223.4 billion in 2024, including oil and gas extraction in the country's continental shelf region.^[2] The country's primary industries are agriculture, forestry, fishery, manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, science, technology and energy, food and drink and tourism.^[13] Major developing industries in Scotland include the space industry, renewable energy and the financial technologies sectors.^[13] The country is one of Europe's leading financial centres, ^[16] and is the largest financial hub in the United Kingdom outside of London.^[17] Scotland's largest overseas export market is the European Union (EU), followed by the United States, the Netherlands, France and Germany.^[18]

Scotland was one of the industrial powerhouses of Europe from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, being a world leader in manufacturing.^[19] The country had one of the largest and most successful shipbuilding industries in the world,^[20] and although significantly reduced in size, shipbuilding remains a significant sector of the economy, generating £403 million in GVA towards Scotland's economy in 2022.^[21] Scotland's economy has been closely aligned with the economy of the rest of the United Kingdom since the Acts of Union 1707 which united the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since 1979, management of the economy has followed a broadly laissez-faire approach.^{[22][23][24][25][26][27]}

There are three Scottish commercial banks – the Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank, and although the Bank of England is Scotland's central bank and its Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for setting interest rates, the three banks of Scotland have retained the rights to print their own banknotes.^[28] The Bank of Scotland was the first bank in Europe to successfully print its own banknotes in 1696.^[29] The currency of Scotland, as part of the United Kingdom, is the Pound sterling, which is also the world's fourth-largest reserve currency after the US dollar, the euro and Japanese yen.^[30]

The economy of Scotland is the second largest economy amongst the countries of the United Kingdom. In 2024, GDP growth in Scotland (1.1%) was stronger than that of the economy of the overall United Kingdom (0.9%).^[31][32] As one of the countries of the United Kingdom, Scotland is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G7, the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United Nations.

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