The geography of Scotland comprises the mainland plus many islands. Some of these islands are inhabited and through time their inhabited/uninhabited status can change.

Most of Scotland’s islands are found in 3 main areas, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and the Hebrides. However, there are also clusters in the Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth and within bodies of fresh water such as Loch Lomond.

For National Records of Scotland, the prime reason for identifying inhabited islands is to aid the delivery and collection of Census questionnaires. In addition to the enumeration aspect of the census, there has always been an interest in the statistics associated with Scotland’s inhabited islands and this dataset helps ensure that they are all identified.