Scotland's population is still above five million

Statistics from the Registrar General for Scotland suggested the population had risen for the second year running.

There were 5,078,400 people living in Scotland in June 2004 - an increase of 21,000 on the previous year and a rise of 23,600 on 2002.

The country gained 26,000 people through migration - the largest rise since current records began in 1952.

About 61,900 people came to Scotland from the rest of the UK, with 41,600 people heading in the opposite direction.

Population rises

An estimated 36,300 people, including asylum seekers, came to Scotland from overseas, while 24,600 went overseas from Scotland.

The number of births rose by 3.4%, but there were still 4,000 more deaths than births.

The figures also took into account a reduction of 1,000 due to changes in the armed forces and prison populations.

There were more deaths than births, latest figures show

Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh and Clackmannanshire were the council areas with the highest population rises, while Aberdeen City, Dundee and Inverclyde recorded the largest drops.

The Scottish National Party's enterprise and economy spokesman Jim Mather said the report provided "false optimism".

"While it shows around 26,000 people coming to Scotland, this is merely a one-off surge as a result of the EU enlargement in January 2004," he said.

"Official estimates confirm that these numbers will not be sustained and cannot solve Scotland's population crisis."

Fresh Talent

Scotland faces the fastest-falling population in Europe.

It is expected that the country's population will dip below five million by 2017.

First Minister Jack McConnell said earlier this year that the country's falling population was the "single biggest challenge facing Scotland in the 21st century".

Mr McConnell launched the Fresh Talent project last year after outlining the challenges posed by the ageing population.