People in Shetland who feel part of their community
Trends and Analysis
| Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage Shetland | 88% | 90% | 84% | 90% | 91% | 90% | 91% | 87% | 86% |
| Percentage Scotland | 77% | 78% | 78% | 78% | 81% | 83% | 82% | 79% | 78% |
The above graph and table show that between 2016 and 2025, Shetland has experienced a higher percentage of people who feel part of their community than Scotland as a whole each year. In 2025, 86% of people in Shetland felt part of their community, the joint sixth highest proportion in Scotland.
There has been no substantial change in these figures since local monitoring began in 2016. The trend for Shetland has fluctuated from 88% in 2016 to 86% in 2025, with a low of 84% in 2018 and figures of 90-91% between 2019 and 2023.
For Scotland, there was a gradual increase in the percentage of people who felt part of their community from 77% in 2016 to a peak of 83% in 2022, dropping down to 78% in 2025.
Due to a smaller sample size, local authority data was not published for 2020. Results for 2021 were published as experimental statistics following a change in survey methodology.
Last updated: October 2026