Scottish electorate continues to rise

The number of people registered to vote in elections in Scotland has increased in 2017, according figures published today by National Records of Scotland. This is the second successive year that the Scottish electorate has increased, following the previous drop in numbers caused by the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER). The latest increase is seen across the electorates for the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament and Local Government.

As at 1 December 2017:

• The number of UK Parliamentary electors in Scotland rose by 20,700 (0.5%) to 3.95 million, compared to December 2016
• The number of registered Local Government and Scottish Parliament electors in Scotland rose by 31,700 (0.8%) to 4.12 million
• There were increases to the electorate for 43 out of 59 UK Parliament constituencies, 57 out of 73 Scottish Parliament constituencies and 245 out of 354 Local Government electoral wards
• The number of electors who are (non-UK) EU nationals increased by 11,800 (10.4%) on the previous year to 125,000. This is the highest recorded level of EU nationals registered to vote in Scotland, but the year-on-year change is smaller than was seen between December 2015 and December 2016 (when it increased by 17,200)
• The number of 16 and 17 year olds registered to vote in Local Government and Scottish Parliament elections increased by 3,900 (4.9%) to 83,500, compared to December 2016. 

Background

1. The full publication ‘Electoral Statistics for Scotland, as at 1 December 2017’ is available on the NRS website.
2. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have also today published electoral statistics for the whole of the UK, which NRS supplied the Scottish figures for. This is available on the ONS website.
3. Resident EU nationals do not have the right to vote in UK Parliament elections, but can vote in Scottish Parliament and Local Government Elections.
4. The data source used to produce electoral statistics holds limited information about voter age and no information about the sex of a voter.