Scotland has an economy which is an open mixed economy, mainly services based, which had an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of £223.4 billion in 2024, including oil and gas extraction in the country's continental shelf region. The country's primary industries are agriculture, forestry, fishery, manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, science, technology and energy, food and drink and tourism. Major developing industries in Scotland include the space industry, renewable energy and the financial technologies sectors. The country is one of Europe's leading financial centres, and is the largest financial hub in the United Kingdom outside of London. Scotland's largest non-UK export market is the European Union (EU), followed by the United States.
Scotland was one of the industrial powerhouses of Europe from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, being a world leader in manufacturing. The country had one of the largest and most successful shipbuilding industries in the world, and although significantly reduced in size, shipbuilding remains a significant sector of the economy, generating £403 million in GVA towards Scotland's economy in 2022. Scotland's economy has been closely aligned with the economy of the rest of the United Kingdom since the Acts of Union 1707 which united the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since 1979, management of the economy has followed a broadly laissez-faire approach.