Monthly GDP Estimates for December

Scotland’s onshore GDP fell by 0.4% in December, according to statistics announced today by the Chief Statistician. Output remains above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, by 0.1%.

Output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, was flat (0.0% growth) in December. At the broad level, output in consumer facing services fell  by 2.5%, while health, education and public services output increased by 0.9%, and output in all other services increased by 0.3%.

Output in the production sector, which accounts for around 16% of the economy, fell by 3.3% in December. Output in the construction sector, which accounts for around 6% of the economy, grew by 1.9% in December.

Using the experimental monthly statistics for Quarter 4 as a whole (October to December), GDP is provisionally estimated to have grown by 1.3% compared to Quarter 3.

Annual GDP is provisionally estimated to have grown by 7% in 2021, following the 10% fall in 2020.

Background

December 2021 publication.

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.

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.

Further information on GDP statistics. 

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