GDP Quarterly National Accounts: 2026 Quarter 1 (January to March)

Revisions

This release includes revisions to data from Quarter 1 (January to March) 2024 to Quarter 1 (January to March) 2026 because of updates and revisions to source data for various components of the quarterly national accounts, including the use of revised or late responses to business surveys and the update of estimates based on equivalent UK GDP data from the latest UK Quarterly National Accounts.

Details of revisions to GDP growth of each broad industry can be found in the standalone GDP by volume tables, while revisions to the nominal value of other key statistics are detailed in the quarterly national accounts summary tables.

Quarterly GDP growth has been revised in six of the last eight quarters, and while there are small changes at the headline level in both upward and downward directions, there have been only small changes to the overall movements in GDP since the start of 2024. In annual terms, real GDP growth has been revised up to 1.2% in 2024 (previously 1.1%), and revised down to 1.3% in 2025 (previously 1.4%).

GDP per person estimates have also been revised from 2024 Quarter 1 onwards due to the inclusion of 2025 mid-year population estimate (and revised 2024 mid-year estimate) which has replaced the previously used population projections. As a result of the updated population estimates, along with revisions to GDP, annual GDP per head grew by 1.2% in 2025 (previously 1.4%), following growth of 0.6% in 2024 (previously 0.4%).

Measurement of GDP and consistency with results for the UK as a whole

As discussed in previous releases there can be differences between the estimates of GDP for Scotland and the UK as a whole due to the faster timescales for updates at UK level and differences between methodologies used. At the present time, UK statistics for real terms GDP growth are based on double deflated GVA and weights up to 2023 (that is, the prices of both outputs and inputs are separately accounted for), while the estimates for Scotland are double deflated up to 2022, with estimates for 2023 onwards based on deflated output only. These differences are unavoidable, and while we aim for coherence at the level of total GDP, users should be conscious of the potential for differences when making comparisons of detailed components in recent years.

Users should also continue to be cautious about drawing conclusions based on comparisons between Scotland and the UK or other countries for the periods when the economy was most severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic due to the higher level of uncertainty during these periods and differences in data sources and methods used.