For a social and economic record of the parishes of Dunbartonshire, together with considerable statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, which was compiled in the 1790s. Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.

Thanks to a joint venture between the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh the First and Second Statistical Accounts can now be accessed on-line at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1791-1799 and 1845.

These records give a fascinating glimpse into our ancestors daily lives. The local Church of Scotland ministers were asked to describe their parishes, for example, what the land was like; what crops were grown; what the predominant language spoken in the parish was; the health of the parishioners etc. Please bear in mind that some ministers had better descriptive powers than others. Nevertheless, you will learn a great deal about their lives. There are no individual names mentioned unless they were major landowners. So this is not a document to search for names. More recently the Third Statistical Account has been prepared since the Second World War.

• For a social and economic record of the parishes of Scotland, together with masses of statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland which was compiled in the 1790s and reprinted in more recent years by EP Publishing Limited of Wakefield, England.
• Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.
• The online version of The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799 and 1845.
• The Old Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-1799) is also available free on Electric Scotland as a series of downloads.
• Statistics from Scotland's Census are available at the National Records of Scotland. These are used by central and local government, health authorities and other organisations to allocate resources and plan services.
• For population figures see the Population section above.

• A Vision of Britain Through Time from the University of Portsmouth provides a vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends (from 1801 to 2001 census data) and historic descriptions.