THE population in Scotland is at its highest level ever at almost 5.3 million, with numbers of the very young and the very old continuing to increase.
Over the past 10 years, the number of children aged five and under has gone up by 6% and those aged 80 and over has increased by 19% since 2001.
For the first time, the number of people who are 65 and older is higher than those aged 15 and below.
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