It's a self-reported stat (census answers), so that many of people at the very least believe they know what Scots is (as they responded that they do speak it).

It's a self-reported stat (census answers), so that many of people at the very least believe they know what Scots is (as they responded that they do speak it). I did find it striking that the same stat for Gaelic was just over 50k in contrast: while I know the level of Gaelic spoken in Scotland is extremely low, it's at least a better known language internationally than Scots is, so I would've expected it to be the more spoken of the two.