Scottish people

Scottish people
Total population
c. 28 – c. 40 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Scotland 4,446,000
(2011) identifying as Scottish descent only[2]
Significant Scottish diaspora in
United States8,422,613 (Scottish)A
794,478 (Scots-Irish)[3][4]
Canada4,799,005[5] (2016)B
Australia2,176,777[6] (2021)C
New Zealand1,000,000–2,000,000 (Scottish descent)
25,953 Scottish-born[7][8]
England795,000[9]
South Africa11,160 (estimate)[9]: 10 
Isle of Man2,403[10]
Hong Kong1,459[11][12]E
Languages
Scottish English
Scots
Scottish Gaelic
British Sign Language
Religion
Presbyterianism
Catholicism
Episcopalianism
Irreligion
other minority groups

Data based on official census data of populations.
St. Kildans sitting on the village street Victorian-era Property of the National Trust for Scotland taken in 1886.

The Scottish people or Scots (Scots: Scots fowk; Scottish Gaelic: Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba) in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and Germanic-speaking Angles of Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century.

In modern usage, "Scottish people" or "Scots" refers to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from Scotland. The Latin word Scoti[13] originally referred to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland.[14] Considered pejorative by some,[15] the term Scotch has also been used for Scottish people, now primarily outwith Scotland.

People of Scottish descent live in many countries. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the Highland and Lowland Clearances, Scottish emigration to various locales throughout the British Empire, and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, have resulted in the spread of Scottish languages and culture. Large populations of Scottish people settled the 'New World' lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. The highest concentrations of people of Scottish descent in the world outside of Scotland are in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada, Otago and Murihiku/Southland in New Zealand, the Falkland Islands, and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world and the second-largest population of Scottish descendants, after the United States.[16]

  1. ^ "The Scottish Diaspora and Diaspora Strategy: Insights and Lessons from Ireland". Scottish Government. May 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Statistical Bulletin: Ethnicity" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom. 2014. pp. 16–17. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  3. ^ "English Most Common Race or Ethnicity in 2020 Census". United States census. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census". United States census. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Census of Population and Housing: Cultural diversity data summary, 2021". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  7. ^ "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Scottish". stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Ethnic group (total responses) by age group and sex, for the census usually resident population count, 2001, 2006, and 2013 Censuses (RC, TA) Information on table". stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. ^ a b D Carr, Julie (2009). Scotland's diaspora and overseas-born population (PDF). Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7559-7657-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Isle of Man Census Report 2006" (PDF). Economic Affairs Division, Isle of Man Government Treasury. 2006. p. 20. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  11. ^ Office, Great Britain: Home (2014). Scotland analysis: borders and citizenship (PDF). London. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-10-187262-1. Retrieved 11 July 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Carr, Julie (2009). Scotland's diaspora and overseas-born population (PDF). Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7559-7657-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  13. ^ Bede used a Latin form of the word Scots as the name of the Gaels of Dál Riata.Roger Collins, Judith McClure; Beda el Venerable, Bede (1999). The Ecclesiastical History of the English People: The Greater Chronicle; Bede's Letter to Egbert. Oxford University Press. p. 386. ISBN.
  14. ^ Anthony Richard (TRN) Birley, Cornelius Tacitus; Cayo Cornelio Tácito. Agricola and Germany. Oxford University Press. ISBN.
  15. ^ "Scotch". dictionary.com. Retrieved 25 April 2019. [Scotch is] disdained by the Scottish because of the many insulting and pejorative formations made from it by the English...
  16. ^ Landsman, Ned C. (1 October 2001). Nation and Province in the First British Empire: Scotland and the Americas. Bucknell University Press. ISBN.

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