Edinburgh South West covers the south-western side of the capital, including suburban neighbourhoods stretching from areas close to the city centre toward Wester Hailes, Currie and the city’s western edge. The constituency combines established residential districts, large post-war estates, university and business areas and lower-density communities closer to the Pentland Hills. The Union Canal, railway lines and major roads are important physical and transport features, while open land becomes more prominent toward the south and west. The seat remains within Edinburgh but includes neighbourhoods with very different urban forms. It therefore represents a broad cross-section of south-west Edinburgh rather than a single local town centre.
Election data comes from UK Parliament. Turnout percentage is calculated by Project Open Gov from Parliament's turnout and electorate figures.
People and place
A population and household snapshot for Edinburgh South West, using validated House of Commons Library constituency datasets.
Estimated population109,607
EstimateMid-2024 estimate
Region / nationScotland
Age profile
0 to 1716.0% · 17,536 people
18 to 2414.2% · 15,519 people
25 to 3418.8% · 20,570 people
35 to 4919.3% · 21,180 people
50 to 6416.1% · 17,651 people
65 and over15.6% · 17,151 people
Population figures are mid-2024 estimates from the House of Commons Library. Project Open Gov calculates the estimated population shown above by summing the six published age-band counts. View population source ↗
Home ownership and renting
Housing tenure shows how households in this constituency described their home at the most recent census.
49,162 householdsCensus 2022
Home owners55.6% · 27,345 households
Private renters24.6% · 12,087 households
Social renters18.1% · 8,912 households
Other tenure1.7% · 818 households
“Other tenure” combines shared ownership and households recorded as living rent free.
Housing-tenure figures come from the most recent census: 2021 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 in Scotland. View housing-tenure source ↗
Household composition
A broad view of household types in this constituency. Project Open Gov uses the four broad groups supplied by the Commons Library so the presentation remains consistent across the UK.
49,158 householdsCensus 2022
One-person households40.4% · 19,855 households
Families with dependent children21.0% · 10,330 households
Other single-family households31.3% · 15,368 households
Other household types7.3% · 3,605 households
Household-composition figures come from the Commons Library constituency dataset. The source uses census data and Project Open Gov displays its broad household groups rather than attempting to harmonise the detailed categories itself. View household-composition source ↗
Disability and day-to-day activities
The source records whether day-to-day activities are limited and uses separate person-level tables for England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
107,031 people in the source baseCensus 2022Source comparison: Scotland
Day-to-day activities limited a lot7.8% · 8,322 people
Day-to-day activities limited a little12.0% · 12,803 people
Non-disabled80.3% · 85,906 people
Comparison note: the workbook uses different source terminology across the UK: England & Wales uses “Disabled under the Equality Act”, while Scotland and Northern Ireland use “Disabled” / “Non-disabled”. Project Open Gov therefore preserves the source categories and does not present them as one single like-for-like UK legal definition.
Disability figures come from the Commons Library constituency workbook. This profile uses the person-level tables only; the workbook also contains separate household-level disability tables which are not used here. View disability source ↗
Petitions
Open UK Government and Parliament petitions that have reached at least 10,000 signatures nationally, ranked here by the number of signatures recorded in this constituency.
Petition signatures are not a poll and do not show what the constituency as a whole thinks. A person can also sign more than one petition.
Open petitionCloses 12 September 2026
Make a public animal abuser register & automatically ban ownership
Signatures in this constituency509
Signatures nationally244,689
Government response published · Debate scheduled for 29 June 2026
Signature counts come from the official UK Government and Parliament petitions data and may change while a petition remains open. Browse official petitions ↗
Funding and local projects
National Lottery grants awarded to organisations recorded in this parliamentary constituency since 4 July 2024.
The constituency is based on the recipient organisation recorded in the source data. The funded activity may sometimes take place across a wider area.
Grants recorded131
Total awarded£13,324,737
Most recent awards
National Lottery grantAwarded 23 June 2026
Rebuilding lives and connections
Scottish Adoption
£10,000
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Scottish Adoption - Children & Young People - National Lottery Awards for All Scotland
National Lottery grantAwarded 22 June 2026
Community Health at 30: Celebrating Impact Creating Legacy
Edinburgh Community Health Forum
£10,000
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Edinburgh Community Health Forum - Health & Wellbeing - National Lottery Awards for All Scotland
National Lottery grantAwarded 17 June 2026
The Juniper Green Note grassroots jazz club
PENTLANDS ARTS FESTIVALS CIC
£4,443
Creative Scotland · Arts
About this award
The Juniper Green Note is a grassroots live jazz venue which was founded in October 2025. The idea is to bring headline acts to the area to perform with local professional jazz rhythm section musicians. All performances take place in the Baberton Golf Club lounge bar, with approximately one concert every four weeks. Judging by the early response, it’s clear there’s a real gap in the market for professional live music in the area -- saving the audiences the trouble of travelling to one of the cities to seek out similar standards of performances. The project is not profit making. So far, all income from ticket sales has been used to pay the musicians. And demand from the local audiences has made this work. We now have the opportunity to attract bigger names to come and perform at the Juniper Green Note. However, these "star headliners" will cost more to book due to their higher fees and their higher travel expenses. For example, we already have interest from London and New York based stars who tour across Britain to perform.
National Lottery grantAwarded 16 June 2026
Ecotones: Music and Myth from Scotland’s Ecological Thresholds
Grant to Individual
£11,589
Creative Scotland · Arts
About this award
Ecotones: Music and Myth from Scotland’s Ecological Thresholds is a research and development project exploring the intersection of ecology, folklore, and traditional Scottish music. It focuses on “ecotones”—transitional spaces where ecosystems meet e.g. the shoreline, machair, and forest edge. These thresholds are rich not only ecologically but also in folklore, representing liminal places where different worlds meet in Gaelic myth and story. This application focuses on the development stage: through research, residency, and work in progress sharing, we will develop an album demo and workshops inspired by the ecology and folklore of these liminal spaces. The music we create will blend traditional Scottish clarsach, fiddle, electro-acoustic composition, and field recordings from the ecotones themselves. By linking ecological awareness with cultural heritage, Ecotones aims to encourage audiences to see these fragile thresholds as places of meaning, memory, and shared responsibility.
National Lottery grantAwarded 2 June 2026
Chinese New Year Celebration 2027
The General Commercial Chamber of Chuan-Yu in UK CIC
£3,800
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
The group will use the funding over 6 months to organise a free and inclusive Chinese New Year celebration in Edinburgh on 5th February 2027.
126 more awards are available.
Source: DCMS National Lottery Grants Database. The figures shown cover awards from 4 July 2024 to 1 July 2026. View official grants data ↗
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