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The Registrar General for Scotland has today published a paper giving information about Scotland's inhabited islands, drawn from the 2001 Census.
Populations range from almost 19,918 to 1 - Lewis and Harris had the biggest population in 2001, while four islands (Innischonan, Sanda, Shuna (Luing) and Eilean Donnan) had only one inhabitant.
Islands' share of the Scottish population going down - A total of 99,739 persons lived in the inhabited islands in 2001. The islands contained a slightly lower proportion of the Scottish population in 2001 (2.0 per cent) than in 1991 (2.1 per cent).
Some islands growing, others shrinking - a total of 64 islands experienced a fall in population between 1991 and 2001, while the population of 35 islands increased over this period. Among those whose populations fell were Lewis and Harris and Bute, while increases took place in Arran and Skye.
Islands' population older - In 2001, 21.4 per cent of islanders were of retirement age, compared with 18.6 per cent for Scotland.
Fewer married people - Between 1991 and 2001, the proportion of persons who were married (excluding remarried and separated) fell by 9 and 6 percentage points for Scotland and for the islands, respectively.
Emigration still a factor - In the year preceding the 2001 Census, there was a net migration of around 1,000 people from the islands to the mainland of Scotland.
Increased number of households - The number of households on the islands increased by 7.6 per cent between 1991 and 2001. This compared with an increase of 8.5 per cent in Scotland.
Households are getting smaller - On the islands, 33.9 per cent of households in 2001 consisted of one person living alone. This compared with 29.7 per cent in 1991.
Houses and bungalows more prevalent on islands - 86 per cent of islands households occupied a whole house or bungalow in 2001, much higher than the Scottish figure of 64 per cent.
Smaller increase in owner occupation on the islands compared with Scotland - The proportion of households in Scotland owning their own accommodation rose from 52 to 63 per cent between 1991 and 2001. On the islands, this increase was less marked, from 63 to 67 per cent.
Few non-whites but more than in 1991 - While 1 in 50 Scots were from a non-white ethnic background in 2001, only 1 in 150 islanders were. The islands' non-white ethnic population was almost 60% higher in 2001 than it was in 1991.
Fewer Scots-born on the islands - In Scotland, in 2001, 87 per cent of persons were born in Scotland. For the islands, this figure was lower, at 84 per cent.
Census data on religion for the first time in 2001 - For the first time, the Census asked questions on religion. A higher proportion of islanders reported their current religion as Church of Scotland or Other Christian (45 and 16 per cent, respectively), than in Scotland (42 and 7 per cent). Fewer islanders (7 per cent) gave their current religion as Roman Catholic than in Scotland (16 per cent).
Fewer Gaelic speakers - In 2001, the proportion of Gaelic speakers was much higher on the islands than in Scotland (22 per cent compared with just over 1 per cent). However, compared with 1991, it was slightly lower in Scotland and almost 5 percentage points lower on the islands.
Large increase in recorded long-term illness - There was a substantial increase, between 1991 and 2001, in both Scotland and the islands, in the proportion of people with a limiting long-term illness. The gap between Scotland and the islands was, however, smaller in 2001 than it had been in 1991.
Slightly better health on the islands compared with Scotland - Marginally more islanders reported their state of general health as "good" (70 per cent) compared with Scots as a whole (68 per cent).
More islanders self-employed - A much higher proportion of islands residents in 2001 aged between 16 and 74 were self-employed (13.3 per cent), than in Scotland as a whole (6.6 per cent).
More islanders working - In 2001, a higher proportion of working age people, both male and female, were in employment in the islands than in Scotland.
More working women - The proportion of working age men in employment was lower in 2001 than it was in 1991, for both the islands and Scotland. There were, however, more working women in both areas, especially in the islands.
One in ten a carer - A new question on the 2001 Census asked about the amount of time spent by a person providing care or unpaid help to a family member, friend or neighbour because of long-term physical or mental ill-health or disability (including problems related to old age). 9.7 per cent of persons on the islands were carers, compared with 9.5 per cent in Scotland.
More islanders employed in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing - In 2001, 9.5 per cent of islanders worked in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, compared to 2.4 per cent for Scotland. Since 1991, the main changes which have taken place at islands level are reductions in the numbers working in mining and quarrying and significant rises in those working in real estate, renting & business activities and health & social work.
More households with cars/vans on the islands - The proportion of households who had a car or van in 2001 was higher on the islands. Almost two-thirds of Scottish households came into this category while, for the islands, the figure was almost three-quarters.
More persons go to work by car - Approximately the same proportion in both the islands and Scotland (64 per cent) travelled to work by car or motorcycle in 2001. Since 1991, for both the islands and Scotland, the proportion for persons travelling to work in this way has increased noticeably.
Over 19 in 20 islanders' 'daytime' location is on the islands - In 2001, the vast majority of islanders (almost 92 per cent) had their daytime location within the island group in which they lived. The percentage who had a different daytime location was highest for island groups which are located close to other island groups.
A third have no educational qualifications - On both the islands and in Scotland, around one third of people, aged between 16 and 74, had no educational qualifications. Islanders had much the same level of qualifications as Scottish people generally.
1. The paper Scotland's Census 2001, Statistics for Inhabited Islands is available from GROS Statistics Customer Service using our Cotact Form and is also available for viewing or downloading from the GROS website.
2. A similar paper to this one was published from the 1991 Census entitled '1991 Census : Monitor for Inhabited Islands : Scotland' (GROS1995 ISBN 1-874451-44-3).
3. The islands for which statistics are produced in this paper are those which the Royal Mail had at least one listed postcoded address for at Census time, plus any other islands which were identified by Census enumerators as being inhabited. Islands are still classified as individual islands even when they are linked to other island(s) or to the mainland by connections such as a bridge, causeway or ford.
4. Table 1 in the paper gives a count of the number of residents and households in each individual island. This is the only detail which it is possible to produce at individual island level.
5. The lowest level of geography for which Census statistics are generally produced is Output Area (OA) level. OAs are formed by aggregating postcodes and there are around 42,000 OAs in Scotland. In order to prevent the disclosure of information about individuals, these output areas cannot contain less than 20 households or less than 50 residents. There are a number of islands which are below that threshold and have been linked to other islands in a single 'island group'. The remaining tables in this paper (Tables 2a to 10) only cover island groups. They do not include the residents and households on 14 small islands, which are part of OAs taking in areas on the mainland.
6. All 2001 Census results have been adjusted to take account of estimated undercoverage in the Census based on the One Number Census methodology, which used the results of the Census Coverage Survey (more information on the One Number Census is available on the GROS website). Tables 1, 2a, 2b, 4a, 4b, 9 and 10 in the paper contain figures from the 1991 Census which, unlike those for 2001, were not adjusted for underenumeration. The 1991 and 2001 figures are not therefore truly comparable.
Page last updated: 9 February 2006
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