East Renfrewshire’s population has risen by almost 7% in little over a decade, new census figures show.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has revealed the number of people living in the local council area during 2022 was 96,800 – up by more than 6,000 from the figure of 90,574 recorded in the previous census, taken in 2011.

The largest age group was 55 to 59, with around 7,000 East Renfrewshire residents in that bracket.

There were 4,800 children under the age of four, while some 1,100 residents were 90 or over.

East Renfrewshire was among 17 out of the 32 council areas across Scotland that recorded a population increase from the 2011 census.

A total of 50,300 residents in the local area were female, while 46,400 were male.

The census is usually carried out every 10 years and asks people to answer questions about themselves and their household to build a detailed snapshot of society.

The results are intended to help organisations make decisions on planning and funding public services such as transport, education and healthcare.

A ‘lessons learned’ review of Scotland’s census is being carried out after it struggled to achieve its target return rates.

The deadline had to be extended before it finally achieved 89% participation nationwide.

The previous Scottish census in 2011 achieved 95% participation.

However, the Scottish Government delayed the latest one by a year because of the Covid pandemic and, by the initial deadline of April 2022, it had only achieved an average return rate of 79%.

Around 90% of people living in East Renfrewshire returned their census form last year.

Janet Egdell, NRS chief executive, said: “Census data is vital for planning health services, education and transport and the information published through our results will help local and central government, businesses and charities to shape Scotland for years to come.”

Scotland as a whole saw its population go up from 5,295,403 to a record high of 5,436,600, largely due to increased migration and people living longer.

This represents a rise of 2.7%.

The country now has more than one million people over the age of 65.

Further results from last year’s census will be published by NRS in the spring.

These reports will include information on ethnicity and religion.

For the first time, there will also be data on armed forces veterans and sexual orientation.