Monthly GDP Estimates for January 2023

Scotland’s onshore GDP increased by 0.9% in January, according to statistics announced by the Chief Statistician.

This follows a 0.8% contraction in December 2022 - revised down from a 0.6% contraction. Output remains above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, by 1.1%.

In the three months to January, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.1% compared to the previous three month period. This is the same rate as 2022 Quarter 4, October to December 2022.

Output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, increased by 0.5% in January. At the broad level, output in consumer facing services contracted by 2.2%, while health, education and public services output increased by 0.8%, and output in all other services increased by 1.8%.

Background

Read monthly GDP estimates for January 2023.

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. 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.