One of the big questions to answer around Scottish independence is just how would an independent state look up against other countries.

To do this we are going to have to look at the size, productivity and employment rate of Scotland as it is now, a region within the United Kingdom, which is obviously not perfect as not everything will remain the same in a post-Yes vote country.



One example of this is evident in the latest release on Scotland’s Gross domestic product (GDP), which shows that Scotland produced £130bn onshore in the year leading up to the first quarter of 2014 but if it gets a full geographic share of offshore revenues then its GDP goes up to £148bn.

With that latter figure Scotland’s GDP is lower than Greece but higher than the Scots’ Celtic cousin Ireland...

But all three of these states have a lower economic output than Catalonia, where many are seeking independence.

A newly independent Scotland would not be that small in comparison to other European countries, with a higher population than Norway.

Although it would still have fewer people in it than Yorkshire and the Humber (which is unlikely to push for independence in the near future).

Scotland from the go would have a relatively low unemployment rate, just below the UK average and lower than Sweden.

Annual data from 2013

It would be set to perform better than the EU average when it came to youth unemployment - even though we know it might not be immediately accepted as a member of the union.

Annual data from 2013

Scotland would also have a higher female employment rate than all but six EU countries, ranking higher than both Austria and Germany.

Annual data from 2013

And although the details of any post-independence settlement are still up in the air until Scotland makes up its mind, we do know one thing that they will definitely have more of north of the border.