Census facts:
The tartan brain drain - Population
Between 1921 and 1931, 400,000 Scots emigrated. In the early 1920s, when Scottish emigration reached its peak,
55 per cent of adult male emigrants were skilled workers, while 15 per cent came from professional or commercial classes.
*Scotland's Census does not ask about emigration.
Care in the capital - Health
In Edinburgh in 1921, 90 babies in every 1,000 died in their first year. The number of deaths per thousand live births gives an indication of the standards of health in the population. By 2001, the figure was down to 5 infant deaths per 1000 births.
*Scotland's Census does not record births and deaths.
It’s a woman’s world - Culture
Following World War I, the census records the largest increase in the excess of women over men than ever before. With 187,213 more Scottish women, they outnumber men by 1080 to 1000.
*From Scotland's Census 1921.
Contemporary historical facts:
2 October 1925 – The Scottish inventor John Logie Baird successfully transmits the world’s first television picture. In 1928 he demonstrated the world’s first colour transmission, though it wasn’t to catch on till the 1960’s.
2 July 1928 – The 1828 Equal Franchise Act gives all women the vote at twenty-one: the same age, and on the same terms, as men.
28 September 1928 - Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist, discovers penicillin. The drug goes on to make a major difference in the treatment of diseases, effectively saving millions of lives.
24 October 1929 – the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the biggest financial crisis of the 20th century. It instigated the ‘Great Depression’, the effects of which were to be felt world-wide.