About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) of quarterly official statistics in development presents provisional data from the national enhanced surveillance system for tuberculosis (TB) notifications in Scotland. This release present provisional quarterly data up to quarter 4 (October to December) of 2025, in addition to the annual TB surveillance report which is published by PHS.

The TB quarterly report is now based on data extracted from the newly adopted UK National Tuberculosis Surveillance System (NTBS) and therefore there are minor changes in historical data. Previously, Scottish TB surveillance data was captured by the Enhanced Surveillance of Mycobacterial Infections (ESMI) system. NTBS is a dynamic data source and statistics released are provisional and subject to validation and future planned revisions. These revisions do not affect the overall interpretation or conclusions to be drawn from the previously published data.

The content of these reports will be reviewed and developed over time following feedback from stakeholders and user engagement. If you would like to provide any feedback, please contact PHS respiratory bacterial team phs.TB@phs.scot.

Main points

Provisional data for 2025 show that:

  • There were 298 TB notifications in 2025.  
  • TB notifications increased by 11.2% when compared with 2024 when there were 268 TB notifications. 
  • The percentage of TB notifications that were male was 61.4% compared with 65.3% in 2024. 
  • TB notifications were received from 11 NHS boards compared to 2024 when TB notifications were received from ten NHS boards. 
  • Most TB notifications were from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (129 cases, 43.3%) and NHS Lothian (61 cases, 20.5%). 
  • The percentage of TB notifications presenting with pulmonary disease in 2025 was 58.4% compared with 48.1% in 2024.

Overall numbers

There were 298 TB notifications in quarters 1 to 4 of 2025, which is an increase of 11.2% when compared with quarter 1 to 4 of 2024 when there were 268 notifications. Table 1 shows number of notifications per quarter from 2019 to 2025.

Figure 1 illustrates the number of TB notifications per quarter for Scotland (from 2019 to 2025). The cumulative number of notifications by month can be seen in Figure 2.

Table 1. TB notifications in Scotland by quarter, January 2019 to quarter 4, 2025

Year 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Q1 61 58 43 49 45 54 75
Q2 55 44 67 50 77 83 86
Q3 60 56 69 55 82 63 69
Q4 68 61 50 45 79 68 68
Total 244 219 229 199 283 268 298
Image caption Figure 1. TB notifications in Scotland by quarter, January 2019 to quarter 4 2025
Image caption Figure 2. Cumulative TB notifications in Scotland by month, January 2019 to December 2025

TB notifications by sex

In 2025, the percentage of TB notifications that were male was 61.4% (183/298) compared with 65.3% (175/268) in 2024.

Geographical distribution

Figure 3 shows the TB notifications in Scotland each quarter by NHS board. In 2025:

  • TB notifications were received from 11 NHS boards compared to 2024 where TB notifications were from ten NHS boards.
  • Most TB notifications were from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (129/298; 43.3%) and NHS Lothian (61/268; 20.5%).
  • There were no TB notifications from three NHS boards in 2025 (NHS Borders, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles).
  • TB notifications increased in seven NHS boards (NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Highlands, NHS Lothian, NHS Orkney and NHS Tayside) but decreased in five NHS Boards (NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Borders, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Grampian and Lanarkshire) when compared with 2024.
Image caption Figure 3. Number of TB notifications in Scotland by NHS boards by quarter, January 2019 to December 2025

Site of TB disease 

Figure 4 shows the proportion of TB notifications in Scotland with pulmonary and non-pulmonary disease by quarter. In 2025, 58.4% (174/298) of TB notifications presented with pulmonary disease compared with 48.1% (129/268) in 2024.

Image caption Figure 4. Proportion of TB notifications in Scotland by site of disease, January 2019 to December 2025

Country of birth and site of TB disease

Figure 5 shows the number of TB notifications by country of birth (UK born or non-UK born), where this was known, by quarter. The proportion of TB notifications amongst people born in the UK born and outside the UK in 2025 were 25.1% (74/295) and 74.9% (221/295), respectively. The country of birth was unknown for three notifications in 2025. These proportions are comparable to those of 2024 where 25.1% (67/267) and 74.9% (200/267) were UK born and non-UK born, respectively (country of birth was missing for one notification).

Image caption Figure 5. Number of TB notifications in Scotland by country of birth, January 2019 to December 2025

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 30 April 2026.

General enquiries

If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please email phs.tb@phs.scot.

Media enquiries

If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.

Requesting other formats and reporting issues

If you require publications or documents in other formats, please email phs.otherformats@phs.scot.

To report any issues with a publication, please email phs.generalpublications@phs.scot.

Older versions of this publication

Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.

Last updated: 02 February 2026