Scotland’s Jewish population has remained stable over the past decade, according to newly published figures from the country’s census in 2022.
The number of Jews identifying by religion dropped by just 0.1 per cent from 5,887 in 2011 to 5,487 in the latest count.
Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, said the figure was “very reassuring”.
He also suggested there could eventually be “an uplift” when Jews identifying as ethnic rather than religious are taken into account — a figure yet to be released.
In 2011, 219 Scottish Jews identified as ethnic-only rather than religious.
Borowski also noted that the proportion of the Jewish community living in the greater Glasgow area had fallen from around 65 per cent to 45 per cent over 20 years.
“There has been a significant move from urban to rural areas and that shows the importance of outreach work to support remote individulas and to educate local authorities and other public services about the needs of Jewish people,” he said.
Jonathan Boyd, executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, said. “On the face of it, the overall population count for Jews in Scotland seems to indicate that little has changed there over the past decade. But under the surface, significant shifts are happening.”
He added, “Perhaps most importantly, the middle age band — those aged 40-64 — has declined by close to 20 per cent, meaning that the pool of people from which the community is able to draw its current and future leadership, is getting smaller over time. Partly as a result, there are also few Jewish children in Scotland today too, down close to 10 per cent on a decade ago.
“On the other hand, there are more young people there today, particularly young women in their 20s, probably reflecting the attraction of Scotland — and Edinburgh in particular — as a place to study. Overall, however, we are seeing the number of Jews living in parts of Scotland that have little or no Jewish communal infrastructure increasing, which is likely to be a sign of assimilation and point to further decline over time.”
The UK Jewish population, which now stands at 294,018 including 501 Jews in Northern Ireland, has increased by close to six per cent in a decade.
