AN independent Scotland should launch a marketing campaign to persuade expat Scots to move back home, a former leader of the SNP has proposed.
Gordon Wilson said ending emigration to the rest of the UK and overseas should be a key economic priority for the country, if Scots vote Yes in September.
In a report for his Options for Scotland think tank, he called for a marketing drive to "encourage Scots to return home to share the excitement of building a new independent country."
He also called for tax breaks to make it easier for people to bring up families in Scotland, as a way of defusing the demographic timebomb.
Scotland's population is ageing more rapidly than the rest of the UK, a problem which along with falling oil revenues presents a major long-term problem for the country's finances.
In their report Mr Wilson and co-author Nick Dekker backed a number of SNP policies to increase immigrations in an independent Scotland, including setting up a points-based entry system for non-EU nationals.
However, they said immigration should be limited out of sensitivity "to the problems faced by England in relation to overcrowding".
They said: "The Scottish Government should seek agreement on the numbers of non-EU immigrants coming to Scotland, to reduce possible movement to England."
Mr Wilson said: "The message is stark. Without children, the nation dies.
"No country can continue with the economic debilitation which loss of population on a huge scale causes. "
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