For Population Growth Target:
The annual population growth rates for Scotland and EU15 in 2009-10 were 0.54 and 0.36 per cent respectively. So, for the first time since the series began in 1999, the population of Scotland grew more than that of the EU15. In 2008-09, the EU15 population grew by 0.50 and the population of Scotland grew by 0.49. The gap between annual population growth rates in Scotland and the EU15 therefore improved by 0.19 percentage points, from the annual rate of change being 0.01 percentage points lower in Scotland in 2008-09 to 0.18 percentage points higher in Scotland in 2009-10 (based on the rounded figures above).