Trends in Rural Scotland: a working paper (2025)

1. Agriculture and Marine

Gross Value Added by Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry sectors

The Gross Value Added (GVA) by the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors for rural local authorities in 2022 was £2,605 million (80% of the Scottish total). GVA was consistently highest over time in mainly rural areas followed by urban with substantial rural areas, islands and remote rural; and lowest in largest cities. GVA by these sectors has grown from 1998-2022, with mainly rural contributions increasing from 1998-2022 by almost £1,000 million.

Using the RESAS classification of local authorities and the 2022 Marine economic statistics, 33% of Scotland's Marine sector GVA is from local authorities classed as Mainly Rural. However, this data should be treated with caution as it cannot be robustly compared to the rest of Scotland.

Percentage (%) employment by sector, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector

Percentage employment in the Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing sectors was consistently higher in island and remote local authorities compared to other authorities in Scotland between 2016-2023, peaking at 18% in 2021, and averaging 16% across those years. Mainly rural local authorities follow in number rising from 8% in 2015 to 10% in 2022. By comparison urban with substantial rural areas had 2% employment and Larger cities almost 0% employment in these sectors in 2023. On average in Scotland, employment in this sector is steadily maintained at 3%.

Sustainability of Fish Stocks

The estimated percentage of commercial stocks fished at sustainable levels has increased steadily from 23% in 1991 to 69% in 2020. Whilst this is an indicator of the health of an industry that operates in a rural (marine) setting it does not make sense to compare fish stocks sustainability by rurality.

Marine sector: Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment

Gross Value Added (GVA) by the Marine Sector has decreased in Scotland from 2016-2022, from £5,080 million to £4,937 million, with alternating periods of growth and decline. From 2021-2022, mainly rural local authorities saw an increase in marine sector GVA, from £1,338 million to £1,517 million. Larger city local authorities are the highest contributor to Scotland's Marine Gross Value Added (GVA). Island and remote communities and urban with substantial rural areas contribute the least to total Gross Value Added (GVA) figures. These figures should be interpreted with caution. For instance, further consideration to the economic contribution of different regions relative to the size of their populations would be beneficial.