Annual Report 2025/26 - Data Updates and Analysis

Shetland maintains a high participation rate (percentage of 16-19 year olds who are in education, employment, training and personal development) with 97.5% in 2025. This was the highest in Scotland, with Shetland being among the top four local authorities since Shetland Partnership began monitoring in 2016. In comparison, 93.3% of 16–19-year-olds in Scotland were participating in education, employment, or training. 

Of those participating in education, employment or training in Shetland in 2025, 65.3% of those were in education, 29.6% in employment and 2.6% in training and development. 1.9% were not participating (those unemployed and seeking, or not seeking), and 0.7% had an unconfirmed status.  

People who Feel Part of their Community

Between 2016 and 2024, Shetland has experienced a higher percentage of people who feel part of their community than Scotland as a whole each year. 87% of people felt part of their community in 2024, compared to 79% in Scotland.  There has been no substantial change in these figures, since local monitoring began in 2016.

In 2016, the nationally developed Place Standard tool was used in Shetland as the best way to establish what people think about their place, give people the chance to say what should be improved and identify how best to make improvements. People were invited to rank the place they live against 14 themes which focused on the important connection between physical and social environments and how this affects our health and sense of wellbeing. The tool has a seven-point scale, where a score of 7 means that less improvement is needed, and a score of 1 indicates that more improvement is needed.

The study was carried out again in 2025. It should be noted that for 2025 there were 15 themes, with Nature & Land Management added. A further change included updating the name of the Facilities & Amenities theme (2016) to Facilities & Services (2025). 

Place Standard Average Scores from the ‘Our Place – Your Say’ 2025 – Quantitative Findings include:

• Public Transport 3.5
• Work and Local Economy 4.2
• Housing and Community 3.8
• Natural Space 5.4

There was a slight increase in the score for Work and Local Economy between 2016 and 2025, and slight decreases for Public Transport, Natural Space, and Housing and Community. However, the substantial difference in the age profiles of respondents - 49% were aged under 18 in 2025, compared with 8% aged under 24 in 2016 – should be considered when comparing findings of the two surveys.