Scotland’s islands are ‘happiest places to live in UK’

Outer Hebrides and Orkney edge out cities to top index compiled by think tank. Picture: Donald MacLeod

SCOTLAND is more prosperous than England and is home to 4 of the top 10 most prosperous parts of the UK a new study has shown.

The Western Isles and Orkney have beaten “better off” mainland areas because of their sense of community and security.

The findings are based on a measure of “prosperity” by merging how happy people are with their income levels.

The Outer Hebrides was fifth in the UK, with the Orkney Isles in sixth place, according to the index released by London-based think tank The Legatum Institute today. Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire finished ninth, with Shetland in tenth.

These Scottish regions all beat areas such as Surrey and Oxfordshire into the top ten. On happiness alone, the Outer Hebrides was the happiest place in the UK.

Western Isles Councillor Angus Campbell said he was not surprised by the findings.

“What I get back from people is that it’s a mixture of the life, the security of being in a safe place and the environment – there’s just a good community feel for the place,” he said.

“We now have a lot of community owned land on the islands, with over 65 per cent of the land owned by the people who live on it and I think that’s an important part of feeling part of where you come from.

“To survive here, you have to be living in an atmosphere of working with your neighbours and working together.

“Things like weather incidents tend to show it’s what the ­communities do them