Orkney best in UK for rural quality of life

Orkney has the best rural quality of life in the UK — according to the latest Bank of Scotland rural quality of life survey — as well as being top of the Scottish table for the fourth year running.

The county moved up from 46th place last year to take the UK top spot.

According to the Bank of Scotland, changes in the survey, and the inclusion of pub numbers and the availability of leisure centres, saw significant changes in this year’s results.

The factors leading to Orkney’s place at the top of the table included:

• The 87.6 per cent employment rate is significantly higher than the rural average (77.4 per cent) and average earnings of £630 per week are only marginally below the Scottish average for all rural areas (£626).
• Schoolchildren benefit from Britain’s largest spending per pupil for primary and secondary children – £9,281 per pupil; double Great Britain’s average of £4,622.
• People living in Orkney have the lowest levels of anxiety rating in Great Britain and they are one of the most satisfied with life. The overwhelming majority of adults (96.6 per cent) report being in good or fairly good health compared to the Great Britain average of 94.6 per cent.
• Crime rates are the lowest in Great Britain, with a burglary rate of just 2.3 per 10,000 people, compared to the Scottish average of 27.2 and 28.7 for Great Britain.
• Low amounts of traffic on the roads, with just 142 cars per square kilometre, compared to the British average of 9,617.
• For their leisure time, Orcadian have a large number of pubs to choose from – 20 per 10,000 adults.

Shetland remains second best rural quality of life in Scotland and were the only other Scottish area to appear in the British table, coming in at 15th place.