Monthly GDP estimates for May 2022

Scotland’s onshore GDP increased by 0.6% in May, after the fall of 0.5% in April, according to statistics announced today by the Chief Statistician. Output is now 1.1% above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020.

In the three months to May, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.7% compared to the previous three month period. This indicates a slowdown in growth during Quarter 2 so far, after the increase of 1.0% in 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March) which was confirmed to be unrevised in the Quarterly National Accounts publication also released today.

In May, output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, increased by 0.4% in total. At the broad level, output in consumer facing services grew by 1.6%, while health, education and public services output decreased by 0.4%, and output in all other services increased by 0.5%.

Overall output in the production, construction and agriculture sectors grew by 1.1%.

Background

Read the monthly GDP estimate for May.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the output of the economy in Scotland. The monthly estimates 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.

The GDP Quarterly National Accounts release for 2022 Quarter 1 was also released today, showing growth was unrevised at 1.0% in the first three months of the year along with a range of other statistics which are used for economic analysis, forecasting and modelling.

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.

Further information on GDP statistics.

These estimates are compiled in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics – more information on the standards of official statistics can be accessed on the Code of Practice for Statistics webpage.