VIDEO: An introduction to the topic

TRANSCRIPT: Looking at a map of Scotland, the northernmost country in the United Kingdom, it’s easiest to pick out the large population centers like Glasgow and Edinburgh, but there is still a large swath of the Scottish population that lives north of this line, often called the Highland Boundary, it separates the area known as the Scottish Highlands from the rest of the country. Mostly known best for things like kilts and clans and haggis and outlander, there’s a lot more going on in the highlands of Scotland than what you hear about in the cuurent zeitgeist. One quintessential part of highland culture and heritage that isn’t necessarily well-known outside of Scotland is island life. Away from the population centers of the south, Scotland is home to over 900 islands. Ranging in size from the smallest island Eilean Donan, to the largest island, the Isle of Lewis and Harris.  94 of the Scottish islands are currently inhabited and some, such as Lewis and Harris and Orkney, are home to thousands of residents. But over the past decades, these islands have struggled to keep their population afloat. New studies estimate that the sparsely populated areas of the islands could diminish by up to 25% by 2046. And even the more populated towns like Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and Kirkwall on Orkney are expected to join this downward trend. Many experts attribute this population decline to a number of factors: including a disparate birth and death rate, economic influences and higher education and job opportunities on the mainland. This is a story with a lot of tiny moving parts and there are some big plans in the works to fix these issues. Over the next several weeks, this site will host a journalistic series which will dive into the issue of population decline on Scottish islands and will look at anecdotal evidence of resurgence. We’ll look at specific islands as case studies for this phenomenon and study the data so that we can formulate a clearer picture. We’ll also look at the steps the Scottish government is taking in the forms of the islands act and the national islands plan. You’ll read and hear interviews from experts on the subject as well as locals who have spent their entire lives on the islands. All of this in an effort to bring light to this complicated issue.