This is a modern unit which was reported on by the 2011 census. Most of our historical statistics were originally gathered for units with quite different boundaries. To give you a clear picture of long-run change, we have used our detailed information on boundaries and population distribution to redistrict the historical statistics to the modern units. More details here.

Statistical comparisons will be made with Great Britain (change comparison)

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Available Themes

Click on the hyperlinks for direct access to key graphs and tables.

• Total Population 1801 to 2011: Population grew from 21,694 in 1801 to 27,684 in 2011.
• Age Structure, in 5-year bands, from 1861 to 2011: In 1861, only 7.1 per cent of the population were aged 65 and over, but by 2011 21.56 per cent were.
• Infant Mortality Rate 1861 to 2011: The highest rate recorded was 83.29 infant deaths per thousand live births in 1881, and the lowest was 7.07 in 2011.
• Changing Industrial Structure 1841 to 2011: In 1841, 54.96 per cent of all workers worked in agriculture, but in 2011 this had fallen to 4.99 per cent.
• Male Unemployment from 1931 to 2011: The highest male unemployment rate recorded by the census was 14.88 per cent in 1981, and the lowest was 6.27 in 1961.
• Precentage of workforce with degrees 1951 to 2011: In 1951, only 3.686 per cent of occupied males had stayed in education past age 20, but in 2011 26.41 per cent of the population had degree-level qualifications.
• Proportion of male workers with professional and managerial jobs, from 1951 to 2011: In 1951, 25.2 per cent of men had these generally better paid jobs, but in 2011 this had fallen to 16.14 per cent.
• Over-crowded housing, from 1911 to 2011: In 1911, 57.19 per cent of people were living in households with over 1.5 persons per room, but in 2011 this had fallen to .2 per cent.

We have created these time series for the modern local authority area by using a Geographical Information System to re-district statistics for a variety of historical units which covered the same area.

Alternative names

The following alternative names exist:

Name	Status	Language	Start	End	Authority
WESTERN ISLES	Official	English		7-NOV-1998	Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
NA H EILEANAN AN IAR	Preferred	Gaelic, Scottish	7-NOV-1998		Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)
WESTERN ISLES COUNCIL	Alternate	English		7-NOV-1998	Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)
COMHAIRLE NAN EILEAN SIAR	Alternate	Gaelic, Scottish	7-NOV-1998		Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)
EILEAN SIAR	Alternate	Gaelic, Scottish			Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
00RJ	Code: Office for National Statistics	English			Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)

Unit associations

We know of no associations with other units.

Unit history

This unit was part of the following units:

Name	Type	Start	End	Authority
SCOTLAND Dep	Country			Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)

Boundary changes

We know of no boundary changes affecting this unit.

Lower level units

We know of no units which were contained within this unit.