GDP Monthly Estimate: December 2021

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics measure the output of the economy in Scotland. These experimental monthly estimates have been developed to help track the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.


This publication is designated as experimental official statistics. This means that the statistics are still in development but have been released to enable their use at an early stage. All results are provisional and subject to relatively high levels of uncertainty.

Main Findings

  • Scotland’s onshore GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.4% in December. Output remains above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020 by 0.1%.
  • Using the experimental monthly statistics for Quarter 4 as a whole (October to December), GDP is provisionally estimated to have grown by 1.3% compared to Quarter 3.
  • Annual GDP is provisionally estimated to have grown by 7.0% in 2021, following the contraction of 10.0% in 2020.
  • Output in the services sector, which accounts for around three quarters of the economy, was flat (0.0% growth) in December. At the broad level, output in consumer facing services fell by 2.5% in December, while health, education and public services output increased by 0.9%, and output in all other services increased by 0.3%.
  • Output in the production sector, which accounts for around 16% of the economy, fell by 3.3% in December. Output fell in three of the four subsectors, including a contraction of 3.4% in manufacturing. Output in the construction sector, which accounts for around 6% of the economy is estimated to have grown by 1.9% in December.

Important Information About This Release

Estimates of monthly GDP growth are inherently more volatile than quarterly or annual growth. In normal times it would be sensible to concentrate on the smoother rolling quarterly growth rate (latest three months compared to previous three months). However, due to the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, results are still mostly presented in terms of monthly growth rates, or the cumulative change compared to pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.

All results are seasonally adjusted and presented in real terms (adjusted to remove inflation), and relate to Scotland’s onshore economy (which does not include offshore oil and gas extraction).

Further information can be found in the full publication below (pdf).

December Monthly GDP Publication
December Monthly GDP Tables

Contact

email: economic.statistics@gov.scot

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