Study by National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows that Highland Council areas are fourth in Scotland for population increase between 2020 and 2021
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
New research on population areas across Scotland found that the Highland Council area is among those with the highest percentage experiencing an increase in residents.
The study, published last week by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), focused on almost 7,000 "small geographic areas" in Scotland.
The area of Sutherland is reported to have seen a 2.2 per cent increase in its population between 2020 and 2021. Caithness also saw an increase by 2.1 per cent (250 more than the previous year).
According to the report Small Area Population Estimates Mid-2021, 58 per cent of the data zones within the Highland Council area – 312 in total – saw an increase in population, with 40 per cent experiencing a decrease and the remaining two per cent staying the same.
The council in which data zones experienced the highest increase were the Orkney Islands, with 66 per cent of its 29 areas seeing a rise in their population and 34 per cent in decrease.
According to the data provided, the areas in the Highland Council area which experienced the highest percentage increase in population between 2020 and 2021 were Lochalsh (4 per cent), Lochaber (3.6 per cent) and Loch Ness (3.1 per cent).
The areas in which population appears to have decreased the most were Thurso and Wick (both with a decrease of 1.1 per cent), Alness ( fallen by 0.4 per cent) and Tain ( a 0.5 per cent decrease).
Used to understand the demographics of smaller communities, data zones are a set of small areas in Scotland, giving a more detailed view and looking beneath local authority level.
A time series is also available which shows the changes of population in the data zones since 2001.
The report shows that nineteen out of thirty-two council areas in Scotland (59 per cent) experienced population decrease in over half of their data zones.
NRS statistician Esther Roughsedge said: “The population of small geographical areas changes over time for many reasons, including births and deaths as well as migration inwards and outwards.
“Every council area has pockets of population growth and decline. In the latest year, the largest proportions of data zones increasing in population were mainly in rural and island council areas. This is quite different to the patterns we saw the previous year.”
According to NRS figures, most people still live in large urban areas (38 per cent) and other urban areas (34 per cent).
The NRS have created an interactive map to navigate the data.
In July NRS revealed that between the middle of 2020 and 2021, Scotland’s largest cities saw their populations fall while some rural areas saw their populations rise, reversing long-term trends.
Over the last year, the number of people living in large urban areas has fallen by 5,600 (a decrease of 0.3 per cent).
In contrast, the populations of rural areas, small towns, and other urban areas have either increased or fallen more slowly than the previous year. In particular, accessible and remote rural areas had the largest increases over the last year, increasing by 13,200 (2 per cent) and 4,700 (1.6 per cent), respectively.
