About Teviot and Liddesdale
Teviot and Liddesdale has the second-smallest land area and the smallest population of the five area partnerships in Scottish Borders. Its population in the 2022 Census was 17,710. Download a map of the Teviot and Liddesdale area.
It has only one main town, Hawick, with a population of 13,512 in 2022. Over three quarters of the population of Teviot and Liddesdale lives in Hawick.
Teviot and Liddesdale has only two other settlements of more than 500 people. These are:
- Newcastleton (776)
- Denholm (683)
Annual population estimates for settlements over 500 people are recorded by National Records of Scotland.
Teviot and Liddesdale has the most clustered population out of the five Area Partnerships, with only 15% (2,738 people) living outside these three main settlements.
Population figures for settlements of less than 500 people are collected by the decennial Population Census.
Most other villages in Teviot and Liddesdale are extremely small and can only be enumerated in the 2022 Census as part of the wider community. Some of these villages include:
- Hassendean and area (211)
- Bonchester Bridge, Hobkirk and Hawthornside (188)
- Chesters and Southdean (161)
- Roberton and Borthwick Water valley (136)
- Teviothead area (62)
Population change
Teviot and Liddesdale is the only locality to be significantly losing population. The population shrank by 6% between the 2011 and 2022 Censuses.
The locality has been slowly losing population for many years, and this trend has continued to the present day although it has affected the locality unevenly.
Hawick lost 5.5% of its population between 2011 and 2022. However, Denholm bucked the trend, with a 4.6% increase in population in the same period. The population of Newcastleton remained unchanged.
The biggest losses have been in the smallest settlements, farmsteads and hamlets, where there has been a 12% shift away from the most isolated rural areas in the locality.
Much of the population loss from the locality has been in the number of children and younger working age people, which is a concern for the future sustainability and survival of centuries-old traditional communities in Teviot and Liddesdale.
This includes the main town of Hawick which is no longer the largest settlement in Scottish Borders, due to population loss.