What do you know about the small northern nation in the British Isles that voted against Brexit?
The 30th of November marks St Andrew’s Day, the feast day of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland since 1320. The day is celebrated as Scotland’s national day.
Geographically, Scotland is modest in size. At 78,000 km², it is more than four times smaller than Finland but has a similar population of around 5.5 million. Scotland makes up a third of the land area of the UK but only 7% of its population. The country is quite mountainous but as a result can be very beautiful. Almost 80% of the population lives in the “central belt” between the Southern Uplands and the Highlands. Six of Scotland’s eight official cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, Stirling and Dunfermline) lie in the central belt, with Inverness standing proud as the capital of the Highlands and Islands, and Aberdeen on the northeast coast as Scotland’s valuable “oil capital.”
Scotland’s economic strengths include oil and gas, energy, financial services (based in Edinburgh), agriculture, food and drink (with whisky alone generating over £5 billion per year), tourism (over 15 million UK and international tourists in 2024), and fishing.
The energy sector is particularly strong. In addition to North Sea oil and gas, Scotland has excellent resources for wind, hydro and wave power. On a windy day, Scotland can easily power two Scotlands, and the surplus is sold as a key export.
As well as its history, Scotland has a rich scientific heritage and is proud of the many inventions Scots have contributed to: the television, the telephone, the flushing toilet, the pneumatic tyre, the thermos, antibiotics, the refrigerator, ATMs, MRIs, fingerprinting, and cloning.
Scotland’s modern political identity is shaped by its long and complex relationship with England. The 1707 Act of Union joined the two nations under one parliament, but it never erased Scotland’s distinct legal system, church or culture. Scotland now has its own parliament and is autonomous in many areas, including having its own international sports teams. The question of independence is an active one. The last independence referendum was in 2014 when the vote was 55% against independence, 45% for independence. Scottish political opinions also generally differ from English ones, being slightly more left-wing (for example Scotland has free higher education and prescription medicines, while in England these must be paid for) and less Eurosceptic. For instance in Scotland every single district voted against Brexit, whereas in England a clear majority voted for Brexit.
Scotland’s influence reaches far beyond its borders. It has a significant diaspora—an estimated 50 million people worldwide claim Scottish ancestry, including around 5 million in the United States alone. Waves of emigration in the 18th and 19th centuries, driven by economic hardship and the Highland Clearances, spread Scots across North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
St Andrew’s Day is traditionally celebrated with whisky, haggis and a ceilidh. Whisky is well known and comes from the Gaelic “ uisge beatha” and means “water of life”. Haggis is a traditional dish made of a sheep’s stomach stuffed with sheep’s organs, oats, and herbs. It has a rather similar taste to ryynimakkara and I highly recommend it . A ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), is a Gaelic word and means a night of traditional Scottish music and dancing.
Wherever you may be this November 30th, feel free to join in, and have a very happy St Andrew’s Day.