Facts & Figures

Scotland covers an area of 78,770 square kilometres, about 31,400 square miles, making it approximately half the size of its southern neighbour, England. It is 440 km/275 miles from north to south and 248 km/154 miles from east to west, yet has about 10,000 km/6,200 miles of coastland, a figure that was estimated by the Scottish Natural Heritage.

Scotland is a land well known for its landscape and the country certainly boasts some spectacular scenery. The highest mountain in Scotland (and Britain) is Ben Nevis at 1343m/4406ft; another 283 are over 914m/3000ft, which places them in a group known as a Munros. Scotland also boasts a large number of lochs - approximately 31,400! Loch Fyne is the longest sea loch with Loch Awe being the longest inland loch; Loch Lomond, at almost 25 miles long and five miles wide at its southern end, has the largest surface area; while Loch Ness has the largest volume of water - more than all the lakes and reservoirs in England and Wales combined - and Loch Morar is the deepest.

As for the people, following the 2001 census the population of Scotland was approximately 5,062,000 with the largest percentage located in the central belt. The two largest cities are Glasgow (over 600,000) and Edinburgh (about 450,000). There is said to be about 25 million people worldwide who claim Scottish descent!

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