Wikipedia:WikiProject Scottish Islands/Populated Islands

This is a list of inhabited islands in Scotland. The National Records of Scotland lists 93 inhabited islands in the 2011 census. They list a further 17 islands that are occasionally inhabited and "are included in the NRS statistical geography for inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses". There are an additional 5 islands that are either occasionally or permanently inhabited but are not listed by the NRS. It is not explicit why this should be the case - all are 'bridged' islands although some larger bridged islands are included. There are therefore a total of 115 Scottish islands that are occasionally or permanently inhabited.

• F = populated freshwater island
• N = no census figure available

Inhabited islands

WikiProject Scottish Islands

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Rank	Island	Local Authority	Population (2022 census)	2011 Rank	Population (2011 census)	2001 Rank	Population (2001 census)	Area (square miles)
1	Lewis and Harris	Western Isles		1	21,031	1	19,918	841
2	Mainland, Shetland	Shetland		2	18,765	2	17,550	374
3	Mainland, Orkney	Orkney			17,162	3	15,315	202
4	Skye	Highland			10,008	4	9,232	639
5	Bute	Argyll and Bute			6,498	5	7,228	47.125
6	Arran	North Ayrshire			4,629	6	5,045	167
7	Islay	Argyll and Bute			3,228	7	3,457	239.25
8	Mull	Argyll and Bute			2,800	8	2,667	337.97
9	South Uist	Western Isles			1,754	9	1,818	124
10	Great Cumbrae	North Ayrshire			1,376	10	1,434	4.5
11	Benbecula	Western Isles			1,303	12	1,219	31.625
12	North Uist	Western Isles			1,254	11	1,271	117
13	Barra	Western Isles			1,174	13	1,078	22.625
14	Whalsay	Shetland			1,061	14	1,034	7.6
15	Yell	Shetland			966	15	957	81.9
16	South Ronaldsay	Orkney			909	16	854	19.2
17	West Burra	Shetland			776	18	753	2.875
18	Tiree	Argyll and Bute			653	17	770	30.25
19	Unst	Shetland			632	19	720	46.6
20	Westray	Orkney			588	20	563	18.2
21	Seil	Argyll and Bute			551	21	560	5.125
22	Sanday	Orkney			494	22	478	19.5
23	Hoy	Orkney			419	28	272	55.31
24	Burray	Orkney			409	24	357	3.5
25	Bressay	Shetland			368	23	384	10.875
26	Stronsay	Orkney			349	25	343	13
27	Shapinsay	Orkney			307	27	300	11.4
28	Scalpay	Western Isles			291	26	322	2.5
29	Great Bernera	Western Isles			252	29	233	8.19
30	Rousay	Orkney			216	31	212	18.8
31	Jura	Argyll and Bute			196	34	188	142
32=	Luing	Argyll and Bute			195	30	212	5.5
32=	Coll	Argyll and Bute			195	35	164	29.625
34	Lismore	Argyll and Bute			192	36	146	9.08
35	Iona	Argyll and Bute			177	40	125	3.375
36	Grimsay	Western Isles			169	32	201	3.25
37	Gigha	Argyll and Bute			163	43	110	5.39
38	Raasay	Highland			161	33	192	24
39	Eday	Orkney			160	41	121	10.59
40	Eriskay	Western Isles			143	38	133	2.75
41	Berneray	Western Isles			138	37	136	3.9
42	Trondra	Shetland			135	39	133	1.06
43	Muckle Roe	Shetland			130	45	104	6.8
44	Colonsay	Argyll and Bute			124	44	108	15.75
45=	Papa Westray	Orkney			90	53	65	3.5
45=	Vatersay	Western Isles			90	46	94	3.75
47	Eigg	Highland			83	51	67	11.8
48	Flotta	Orkney			80	48	81	3.4
49	East Burra	Shetland			76	52	66	1.99
50	North Ronaldsay	Orkney			72	49	70	2.7
51	Fair Isle	Shetland			68	50	69	2.97
52	Fetlar	Shetland			61	47	86	15.75
53	Easdale	Argyll and Bute			59	54	58	0.097
54	Baleshare	Western Isles			58	56	49	3.5
55	Housay	Shetland			50	55	50	0.63
56	Foula	Shetland			38	59	31	4.88
57	Kerrera	Argyll and Bute			34	57	42	4.625
58	Holy Isle	North Ayrshire			31	68	13	1
59	Wyre	Orkney			29	66	18	1.20
60	Graemsay	Orkney			28	64	21	1.58
61	Muck	Highland			27	60	30	2.125
62	Egilsay	Orkney			26	58	37	2.5
63	Bruray	Shetland			24	61	26	0.21
64	Rùm	Highland			22	63	22	40.375
65	Grimsay, South East Benbecula	Western Isles			20	65	19	0.45
66	Papa Stour	Shetland			15	62	23	3.20
67	Canna	Highland			12	78	6	4.4
68	Ulva	Argyll and Bute			11	67	16	7.625
69	Sanday	Highland			9	79	6	0.71
70=	Oronsay	Argyll and Bute			8	83	5	2.09
70=	Inchmurrin (F)	West Dunbartonshire			8	69	13	0.46
72=	Isle of Ewe	Highland			7	70	12	1.19
72=	Flodaigh, Benbecula	Western Isles			7	71	11	0.56
74=	Erraid	Argyll and Bute			6	75	8	0.75
74=	Eilean Tioram, Badachro	Highland			6	na	0	0.0077
76	Innis Chonan (F)	Argyll and Bute			5	97	1	0.031
77=	Scalpay	Highland			4	73	10	9.625
77=	Tanera Mòr	Highland			4	84	5	1.25
77=	Auskerry	Orkney			4	80	5	0.33
80=	Inchtavannach (F)	Argyll and Bute			3	86	3	0.27
80=	Shuna, Slate Islands	Argyll and Bute			3	96	1	1.74
80=	South Rona	Highland			3	92	2	3.6
80=	Gairsay	Orkney			3	85	3	0.93
80=	Holm of Grimbister	Orkney			3	na	N	0.0625
80=	Moncreiffe Island (F)	Perth and Kinross			3	87	3	0.17
86=	Gometra	Argyll and Bute			2	82	5	1.625
86=	Eilean Shona	Highland			2	74	9	2.03
86=	Vaila	Shetland			2	90	2	1.26
89=	Danna, Scotland	Argyll and Bute			1	81	5	1.25
89=	Eilean dà Mhèinn	Argyll and Bute			1	na	0	0.011
89=	Soay, Skye	Highland			1	77	7	4
89=	Inner Holm	Orkney			1	na	0	0.00766
89=	Inchfad (F)	Stirling Council			1	93	2	0.135

Occasionally inhabited islands

The following are classified by the National Records of Scotland as "inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses."

Number	Island	Location	Local Authority
1	Kisimul Castle/Caisteal Chiosmuil	Castlebay, Barra	Western Isles
2	Castle Stalker/Eilean an Stalcaire	Near Port Appin	Argyll and Bute
3	Eilean Horrisdale	Loch Gairloch	Highland
4	Eilean Loain	Knapdale	Argyll and Bute
5	Eilean na Cille	Near Benbecula	Western Isles
6	Ensay	Sound of Harris	Western Isles
7	Inch Kenneth	Near Mull	Argyll and Bute
8	Inchlonaig (F)	Loch Lomond	Argyll and Bute
9	Inchcruin (F)	Loch Lomond	Stirling
10	Lamb Holm	Churchill Barriers	Orkney

The following islands were classified as inhabited in the 2001 census but not in 2011. By implication they are occasionally inhabited.

Number	Island	Local Authority	2001 Rank	Population (2001 census)	Comment
11	Papa Stronsay	Orkney	72	10	The home of a religious order.
12	Lunga	Argyll and Bute	76	7	Has an outward bound centre.
13	Davaar Island	Argyll and Bute	88	2	Has a holiday home.
14	Eilean Bàn, Lochalsh	Highland	89	2	Has a wildlife centre.
15	Inchcolm	Fife	91	2	There is a visitor centre and probably summer habitation.
16	Eilean Donan	Highland	94	1	The castle is in regular use.
17	Sanda	Argyll and Bute	95	1	The island is for sale and has an occasional caretaker.

The following islands are not referred to by the National Records of Scotland, although it is clear that they all contain residential buildings in occasional or permanent use. The NRS do not provide a definition of an island, and it may be that some are excluded as they are bridged (although larger bridged islands are included in their listings).

Number	Island	Local Authority	Comment
18	South Walls	Orkney	Was a tidal island until a narrow causeway was constructed over the sandbank connecting it to Hoy.
19	Eriska	Argyll and Bute	A bridged tidal island with a hotel.
20	Fraoch-eilean	Western Isles	A bridged tidal island adjoining Grimsay, it has numerous dwellings.
21	Contin Island (F)	Highland	A bridged river island with a church and a manse.
22	Eilean Aigas (F)	Highland	A bridged river island with a substantial mansion.
23	Rubh'a Chruidh (off Kerrera)	Argyll and Bute	A tidal island with a large house.

Unnamed islet arguably part of or just off Fraoch-eilean

A University of Notts PhD thesis by Robert Lenfert entitled "Long-Term Continuity and Change within Hebridean and Mainland Scottish Island Dwellings" (downloadable pdf here) has, on page 70, an aerial photo in which the author contrasts "a modern intertidal island dwelling on Grimsay" with two nearby crannogs. He describes it as NE of Loch Hornary, although the image shows a small cluster of buildings NW of there at NF859577 and the causeway is off Fraoch-eilean, not Grimsay itself. This and the image at right suggest it is occasionally inhabited, at the very least. The aerial photo is much more suggestive of the place's original insularity than either this photograph or the Ordnance Survey map, which does not indicate MHWS reaching the causeway.

Notes

• Forewick Holm was added to the inhabited list from June-December 2008 after extensive press coverage of the single inhabitant's activities.

References

• National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.