Report
State of the Scottish Coalfields 2024
Economic and social conditions in Scotland’s former coalfields
This report reviews social and economic conditions in Scotland’s former coalfields, drawing on local statistics from the 2022 Scottish census of population and a range of other official statistics. It focuses on the areas of population, health, jobs, commuting, job quality, qualifications, unemployment, out-of-work benefits, and deprivation.
The report concludes that while Scotland’s coalfields have moved on since the job losses of the 1980s and 1990s, the pace of change has been uneven and this is not a moment to walk away from coalfield regeneration. Properly rebuilding the economic and social base of communities can take decades, and it is clear that in Scotland’s former coalfields the job is not yet complete.
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