Islands

A database of all the 233 islands in Scotland populated at any time since 1841 shows over half becoming depopulated between 1861 and 2011, with a marked inverse relationship between population size and population decline. Only three of the 129 islands where populations never exceeded 49 in this period were not depopulated at least once. Most even of medium-size islands were unable to maintain the infrastructure available on the largest islands, though even there there was much variation in timings and extent of population change. Other reasons for variation in trends and outcomes include: when electricity arrived; transport costs, journey times and accessibility; how much local produce could be marketed off-island; scale of non-farm/fishing activities, especially tourism;, in some cases, a strong desire by sometimes a very small number of people, for a variety of reasons, to stay on an island or to move there.