Scotland’s declining population would see more funding per person if the country remains part of the United Kingdom and funding arrangements for devolved budgets remain the same, a leading think tank has said.
It follows analysis published this week by the Scottish Fiscal Commission which projects the population of Scotland is set to fall by 16 per cent, or around 900,000, around the size of Edinburgh and the Lothians, over then next 50 years.
This is likely to impact economic growth, with the Scottish economy growing around 0.5 per cent less per year in aggregate than that of the UK.
David Phillips, an associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: “Most people would probably assume that a large projected fall in the Scottish population over the coming decades would damage the Scottish Government’s finances by undermining revenues.
“However, under current constitutional and funding arrangements, that’s not true: a smaller population means more funding per person from the UK government.
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