THE population increase in Scotland last year was the biggest since the post-war "baby boom", new figures revealed today.
Statistics showed that migration into the country was by far the largest contributing factor to the upward trend.
The details were revealed today by Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, in his Annual Review on Demographic Trends.
Figures show that the population in the middle of 2007 stood at 5,144,200, taking it to the highest overall figure in 25 years.
The population grew by more than 27,000 compared to the previous year, making it the highest single-year increase since 1946-1947.
Gains from migration were also higher than in any year since current records started in 1951.
The figures showed there were net gains of around 8,800 people from the rest of the UK and 16,800 people from the rest of the world.
Once other adjustments were included, the total increase in the population last year was 27,300.
Mr Macniven said he expected the slow population increase to contine for the next 25 years or so, reaching an estimated peak in 2031 of 5.37 million.
The Registrar General said today: "The most interesting thing in this year's report is that the increase in population between 2006 and 2007 was the highest single-year rise since just after the Second World War.
"The most important factor is migration. An increase in birth rate contributed a bit but that would only increase the population of Scotland by about 1,000.
"In fact, the population increased by about 27,000 and the remaining 26,000 was because the number of people coming into Scotland exceeded the number of people going out of Scotland.
"It's a trend that can be seen over the last five years.
"Whether it continues or not is the 64,000 dollar question."
The full article contains 315 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
