Cycling in the Outer Hebrides - Barra/Barraigh

Spent a week cycling from Barra to Lochmaddy, then from Uig in Skye to Mallaig with various journeys on the train and ferry en-route.  As ever pondered what the Census says about this area and have investigated some key demographics of the major islands on the way.

Starting with Barra / Barraigh 

Boundaries - check

The boundaries of the islands were reviewed as part of the processing of producing output areas for 2011.  There are unlikely to be many substantial differences in the island areas but worth checking by reviewing the outputs on the CDE.  In the case of Barra they look very similar.

2001 boundary

2011 boundary

Population change
  

The usually resident population increased by 96 from 1078 in 2001 to 1174 in 2011.

This change was not spread evenly across age groups which is illustrated in the figure below.

In 2001, 22 per cent of the population was aged 0 to 15 years old.  This reduced to 20 per cent in 2011. A similar change is seen in the age group 16 to 29 years old.

In 2001, 17 per cent of the population was aged between 60 and 74 years old, with a further 6 per cent aged 75 years and over.  In 2011, these had increased to 20 percent aged between 60 and 74 and 8 per cent aged 75 year and over.

In order to understand this change, it is necessary to look at statistics on migration and mortality statistics.

Some other key census 2011 stats on Barra/Barraigh

There are 549 occupied households , 117 unoccupied household spaces which are second or holiday home, and 18 unoccupied household spaces which are vacant

27 per cent of people aged 16 and over living in households are single

63 per cent of people aged 3 and over can speak Gaelic

51 per cent of people aged 3 and over speak Gaelic at home

68 per cent of people stated their religion as Catholic

53 per cent of people aged 16 to 74 are employed full-time or part-time

12 per cent of people aged 16 to 74 are self-employed