The new statistics published for Orkney show the population at 22,000.  Average life expectancy is slightly higher than for Scotland as a whole with men = 78.8 and women= 82.5. In 2017 there were 184 births.

Housing is not as good as the rest of Scotland with those in bands A-C 68.6% compared to Scotland’s 60.2%. The average house price in Orkney was £149,399 with Scotland’s being £180,633.

The number of registered dwellings in the islands is 11,228 with 3.6% being second homes. 6.7% were counted as vacant. These percentages were all much higher than the national figure.

The uptake of immunisation for measles was slightly less than Scotland (96.8%) at 94.1%. There were double the number of babies recorded with a low birth weight 2.81% compared to the national % however mothers in Orkney who were smokers was lower than Scotland’s figure (15.87%) at 11.24%.