The figures reveal trends for life in towns and cities across Scotland

The figures are contained in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) regional trends report.

There were 11.5 deaths per 1,000 people in Scotland in 2003, compared to 7.8 in London and a 10.3 UK average.

Scotland also had employment running above the national rate but saw a rise in recorded crime.

The detailed regional trend figures cover areas of life including population, education, housing, health, the environment and crime.

Offences up

They were gathered from UK Government and Scottish Executive department sources, individual surveys and academic reports for the 5,078,000 people living north of the border in the period running up to April 2005.

Recorded criminal offences dropped by 7% for England between 2003/04 and 2004/05 and all parts of the country except Scotland showed reductions in crime.

The incidence of sexual offences, housebreaking, vehicle theft and criminal damage all rose between 2003 and 2005.

Scots spent less on eating out than the rest of the UK

There were about 1,000 alleged firearms offences a year between 1998 and 2004 and the number of anti-social behaviour orders rose from 57 in 2001 to 148 in 2004.

Reflecting concerns over falling population, Scotland had the lowest proportion of under 16-year-olds in 2004, at 18%, with the oldest local authority area being Edinburgh, where children made up just 16% of the population.

In spring 2005 the employment rate for people of working age was 75%, just above the UK rate.

At the time, weekly earnings for men were �447.80 and �362.10 for women, 5% and 3% below UK levels.

Home alone

Productivity also rated below national levels, using a system known as gross value added (GVA) per hour worked, which takes into account the mix of part-time and full-time workers in a region.

GVA per head was �16,200 in 2004 in Scotland, compared with �17,300 for the UK as a whole.

Almost one-third of households consisted of a single person, the highest proportion of any area compared with 29% for the UK.

The average spend on food and drink per person each week in the UK was �22.67, with a further �10.93 spent on eating out.