Orkney’s population grows

Orkney’s population grew more than any other Scottish island group between 2001 and 2011 according to new statistics published by the Scottish Government.

The figures which were obtained through information collected in the 2011 census show that the population across the Orkney Islands Council area grew by 11 per cent in the ten-year period — accounting for more than half of the increase in total across all Scottish islands.

They also show that the population across almost all of the islands within Orkney  grew during the same period.

According to the figures, the total number of ‘usual residents’ in Orkney grew from 19,245 to 21,349 with the number of ‘households with usual residents’ also growing by over 1000, from 8,342 to 9,725.