Latest monthly and quarterly GDP statistics

Scotland’s onshore GDP grew by 0.1% in August, according to statistics announced today by the Chief Statistician. Output remains 1.3% below the pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

In the three months to August, GDP is estimated to have grown by 2.6% compared to the previous three month period. This reflects a slowdown in growth during the third quarter so far, relative to the upwardly-revised growth of 5.6% in Quarter 2 (April to June) which was also published today in the GDP Quarterly National Accounts.

Output in the services sector grew by 0.2% in August, with increases in 11 of the 14 subsectors. In August, the largest positive contribution to growth was from accommodation and food services, offset by a drop this month in the health and social work subsector.

Output in the production sector contracted by 0.8% in August. There were falls in the three of the four subsectors, including a contraction of 2.6% in manufacturing output. Output in the construction sector is provisionally estimated to have grown by 0.2% in August.

Background

All results are seasonally adjusted and presented in real terms (adjusted to remove inflation). GDP growth relates to Scotland’s onshore economy, which means it does not include the output of offshore oil and gas extraction.

Monthly GDP is an experimental statistics release for Scotland. The August 2021 results.

The GDP Quarterly National Accounts are a national statistics release for Scotland. The 2021 Quarter 2 (April-June) results.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the output of the economy in Scotland. The monthly estimates have been developed to help track the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are designated as experimental official statistics. This means that they are still in development but have been released to enable their use at an early stage. All results are provisional and subject to relatively high levels of uncertainty.

The GDP Quarterly National Accounts publication includes the second national statistics (not experimental) estimate of growth for the April to June period. This uses additional data which has been released since the first estimate was published in September. The Quarterly National Accounts also include a range of other statistics which are used for economic analysis, forecasting and modelling.  Further information on GDP statistics

These estimates are compiled in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics