Economy

Fife is home to just over 374,000 people. It contributes to the Scottish economy with an annual business turnover of around £13,879 million. As well as supporting over 10,000 businesses and approximately 104,000 jobs, Fife is the perfect choice for enterprises attracted by proximity, first-class business propositions, a capable workforce and lower costs.

In 2023, the Fife Partnership launched a new economic strategy which sets out its approach for growing a stronger, greener and fairer economy in Fife.

Fife's Economic Strategy 2023-30  is our economic strategy for the region. A summary of the strategy can be seen here.

The strategy identifies three priority areas on which Fife Council and its community planning partners will focus their activities over the next seven years:

• Supporting businesses
• Investing in premises and infrastructure
• Delivering skills, training and fair employment.

A fourth priority Working in collaboration and partnership details how the strategy will be delivered.  The strategy also commits to taking a Community Wealth Building approach to maximise the local impacts of investment and to making sure that its actions help tackle climate change.

As part of the strategy development process, an Evidence Paper was produced examining the structure and recent performance of Fife's economy and identifying the key challenges and opportunities the new strategy should focus on.

Mid Fife

The Mid-Fife area of Fife extends from the M90 in the west through to the Firth of Forth coastline in the east and comprises the
Cowdenbeath, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and Levenmouth local committee areas.

Mid-Fife is well-connected to the M90 via the A92 dual carriageway running east-west through the region and is also well-serviced by the Fife Circle rail network and East Coast Main Line providing onward links to Edinburgh and the south; Dundee, Aberdeen and the north; and Glasgow to the west.

The recent Scottish Government announcement about the reinstatement of the Levenmouth rail link, due for completion by 2023, has provided a major boost to Mid-Fife and is accompanied by further funding from the government and Fife Council to enhance the area’s economic prospects.

You can view a copy of the Mid Fife Prospectus here

Area Economic Profiles

Our annual Local Area Economic Profile provides an overview of the characteristics and performance of Fife's labour market and business base. The data in the profile are broken down to the areas covered by each of Fife Council's seven Local Area Committees. The latest profile also provides a summary of the business support and economic development activity carried out by Fife Council in 2021/22. For further information about the content of this publication, or if you would like any bespoke economic data, please contact us.

• Fife Local Economic Profiles 2021-2022

Fife's Business Base

The 2022 Fife Business Base Report provides information on the number and characteristics of companies operating in Fife, their sectors, size and performance.  This year's report focuses on changes in the number and performance of Fife's business population between March 2021 and March 2022 and on changes in business births, deaths and survival rates between 2020 and 2021.

To access a range of socio-economic, health and wellbeing information and statistics about Fife, visit the KnowFife Dataset.

Monthly Economic Updates