Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

POPULATION.
According to the census returns, which allow the
country 19,062,482 statute acres, the average density
of population has been raised from 126 persons per
square mile in 1881 to 135 persons in 1891; or, in
other words, while in 1881 each person on the average
had 5"1 acres, this space was in 1891 reduced to 4'7
acres. Scarcely a fourth of the area is capable of
cultivation, and owing to special social causes the
population is less evenly distributed than physical
conditions permit. The following table shows the
disparity of population to area in the individual
counties : —
1881.
Sutherland,
Inverness,
Ross and Cromarty, j-Counties with from 12 to 40 inhabitants per square mile.
Argyll,
Peebles.
Kirkcudbright,
Nairn,
Perth,
Shetland,
Caithness.
Dumfries,
Wigtown,
Berwick.
Elgin,
Roxburgh,
Kincardine,
Banff,
Kinross,
Bute,
Orkney,
Selkirk.
Aberdeen,
Haddington,
Ayr.
Stirling.
Fife,
Forfar,
Linlithgow,
Dumbarton.
None.
Clackmannan.
None.
None.
,
1891.
(Sutherland,
Inverness,
Argyll,
Ross and Cromarty.
Counties with from 41 to 60 inhabitants per square mile.
Kirkcudbright,
Perth,
Shetland,
Caithness,
Nairn,
Peebles.
i'l fDumfries,
[-Counties with from 61 to 80 inhabitants per square mile. -J Berwick,
["Wigtown.
Roxburgh,
Bute,
Orkney,
Kincardine,
Elgin,
Kinross,
Banff.
I ("Aberdeen,
(-Counties with from 101 to 200 inhabitants per square mile. J Haddington,
Counties with from 81 to 100 inhabitants per square mile.
[Selkirk.
/Ayr,
Counties with from 201 to 300 inhabitants per square mile.-! „*. j.
(fForfar,
Counties with from 301 to 400 inhabitants per square mile. -J Dumbarton,
(.Fife.
Counties with from 401 to 500 inhabitants per square mile. Linlithgow.
Counties with from 501 to 600 inhabitants per square mile. None.
Counties with from 601 to 700 inhabitants per square mile. Clackmannan.
I Lanark,
Counties with above 1100 inhabitants per square mile. J Renfrew,
I Edinburgh.
The tendency of the people in all countries, on I into the larger towns. How this is affecting Scotland
account of increasing industrial activity, is to gather | is evident from the following figures : —
Towns— Pop. 2000 upwards, .
Villages— Pop. from 300 to 2000, .
Rural Districts, ....
Total
Population at Census.
Increase or De-
crease between
18S1 and 1891.
Percentage of
Increase or
Decrease.
Percentage of Population.
1881.
2,306,852
447,884
980,837
1891.
2,631,298
465,836
928,513
+324,446
+ 17,952
— 52,324
+14-06
+ 4-01
— 5-33
1881.
61-75
11-99
26-26
1891.
65-37
11-57
23-06
3,723,573
4,025,647
+290,074
+ 776
100-00
100-00
It is thus seen that the principal towns have been
growing at the expense of the rural districts. In
various parts of Scotland, besides the deer-forest and
sheep-pasture districts of the Highlands, the returning
emigrant who visits the scenes of his childhood finds
the little house which used to stand with its patch of
garden at the corner of the croft reduced to a roofless
ruin, or swept away altogether. And perhaps the
sole memento he can recover is a spray of honeysuckle
or a sprig of rosemary still flourishing in the hedge-
row or on the dyke side. But it is only in certain
limited portions of the Highlands that the word de-
population can be applied. In Ross and Cromarty
nearly every parish (with some notable exceptions,
such as Stornoway) shows a considerable diminution
in the thirty years 1861-1891. Thus:—
Alness, .
1861.
189 1.
Edderton,
1861.
1891.
Kilmuir Easter,
1861.
1891.
1178
1039
836
642
1295
1024
Applecross,
2544
1786
Fearn, .
2083
1900
Kiltearn,
1634
1301
Avoch, .
1788
1817
Fodderty,
2247
1897
Kincardine,
1746
1417
Contin, .
1509
1436
Gairloch,
5449
4181
Kintail, .
890
588
Cromarty,
2300
2007
Glenshiel,
485
394
Knockbain, . .
2485
1667
Dingwall,
2412
2576
Killearnan, .
1456
951
Lochalsh,
2413
1868
1719