* * * * Population Trends in Scotland So much
has been heard of the depopulation of the Scottish Highlands in recent years that it comes as something of a surprise to learn from the new report of the Registrar-General for Scotland that the population of the country as a whole is computed to have increased between June, 1931, and June, 1936, by some 123,000. That is partly due to a decrease in overseas migration, though that is probably offset by migration from Scotland southwards ; there is still, appar- ently, truth in Dr. Johnson's historic comment on Scotland as " a land of fine prospects." With the general improve- ment of employment some increase in the urban population might be expected, and no doubt the figures for 1936-7, when they are available, will indicate that. But there is some significance in the fact that the population outside the large and small burghs, after dropping from 1,538,111 in 1921 to 1,460,461 in 1931, had risen by 1936 to 1,492,400 (estimated). Trends in population are as important as actual figures, and any tendency towards the repopulation of rural Scotland must be watched with interest and satisfaction. The country as a whole can probably boast today a population of 5,000,00o, though no official figures for a later date than June, 1936, are available.
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