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Last updated

20 Nov 2025

Scotland's Census 2031

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has recommended a mandatory questionnaire-based census for Scotland in 2031. 

This recommendation has been made to Scottish Ministers on behalf of the Registrar General for Scotland and has been accepted in principle with further detailed plans to follow.  

Census data is vital for gathering a vast range of information about Scotland’s people which local and central government, the NHS and a range of other service providers and data users need. The 2022 census generated over a billion statistics including education, transport, religion, migration, and national identity.

Alison Byrne, NRS Chief Executive, said: "No other survey provides the richness and range of information that the census does, enabling governments and other public bodies to plan the services we all rely on, and telling the story of Scotland's people for generations to come.

“We look forward to hearing from data users across Scotland in the coming months. Their responses will help us to understand the best way to meet their needs as we plan for a 2031 census.”

The recommendation is for the census to be held at the same time as censuses in the rest of the UK.  As with previous censuses NRS will work closely with other UK statistical bodies on the design and build of the census. 

 

Scotland's Census 2031 - Topic consultation

Thank you to everyone who participated in Scotland's Census 2031 topic consultation. The consultation has now closed and the responses will help to inform the content of the 2031 census and the topics it will cover.

Next steps:

The Scotland’s Census programme is now beginning a thorough analysis of all the responses received. Over the coming months, we'll be:

  •          reviewing consultation feedback - we're collating all responses and reviewing them against the criteria set out in the consultation, with a particular focus on user needs.
  • gathering additional information - where respondents indicated they were happy for us to contact them again, we may reach out to request further evidence if needed.
  • sharing our draft conclusions with Scottish Government topic experts and the ScotStat Board for Official Statistics for review
  • publishing an analysis report of the consultation responses on Scotland’s Census website with the consultation responses published on Citizen Space

We expect to complete this work by spring 2026.

Looking further ahead, we’ll be building on the topic consultation findings alongside user research and stakeholder engagement, including question testing and questionnaire design, across 2026 and 2027 as we prepare for the census in 2031.