Young Reekie! Capital residents’ average age is only 36

IT is the most ancient of cities, but it seems Auld Reekie is getting ‘younger’ – as are the rest of Scotland’s major cities.

While the country’s population has been ageing for decades, the average age of Edinburgh residents is now 36.5, the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

In Glasgow it is down to 35.6, in Aberdeen 37.3, and in Dundee 37. Every other region got older, with the mean age in Argyll now 49.7 and Dumfries & Galloway 49.6. Overall, the average age of a Scot rose from 40.9 years to 42 between 2009 and 2019.

Stirling University economics Professor David Bell said people tend to migrate before the age of 30 and then settle.

That is leaving rural areas to grow old as the young move away. Professor Bell – who sits on the Scottish Government’s expert advisory group on migration and population – said: ‘Students are a big part of it, and they are boosting city populations in the 17-25 age range.

‘The net effect is that the population is ageing but in an unbalanced way. It makes it very difficult to make policy.

‘It will be hard to provide good career opportunities for the young in rural areas without fixing the housing market, too. There will soon be very different population profiles across Scotland – a challenge in terms of providing services for older people in sparsely populated areas.’

The Scottish Government said: ‘Scotland, like many other nations, is facing a demographic challenge. A Ministerial Population Task Force has been established to address our population concerns.’