Scottish electorate shows an increase in 2019

The number of people registered to vote in parliamentary and local elections in Scotland increased in 2019, according to figures published today by National Records of Scotland. This follows a slight decrease in the previous year. The latest increase is seen for both the UK Parliament electorate and for the Scottish Parliament and Local Government electorate.

At 1 December 2019:

• The total number of UK Parliament electors in Scotland was 3,988,600. This is an increase of 62,700 (1.6%) on the previous year.
• The number of registered Scottish Parliament and Local Government electors also rose slightly, to 4,167,400. This is an increase of 61,500 (1.5%) on the previous year.
• There were 73,800 young people aged 16 or 17 registered to vote at Scottish Parliament and Local Government elections, accounting for 1.8% of the total electorate. This is a decrease of 4,600 (5.9%) on the previous year.
• Around 17% of the Scottish electorate was registered for postal voting at 1 December 2019. Over the last decade this proportion has generally increased; it was 11% in 2009.
• There were 142,400 (non-UK) EU citizens registered to vote in Scottish Parliament and Local Government elections, an increase of 9,600 (7.2%) on the previous year and nearly three times higher than the 50,300 figure for 2009. This represented 3.4% of the total electorate in 2019 and is the highest recorded number of EU citizens registered to vote in Scotland.

In addition to the electorate figures covered by these statistics, later voter registrations for the General Election held on 12 December provided an uplift to the total number of UK Parliament electors in Scotland, bringing the total on election day up to 4,053,100. This was 127,300 (3.2%) higher than the number of registered electors at the previous December.

The publication Electoral Statistics - Scotland 1st December 2019 and an infographic summary is available on this website.