Highlands as well as Islands

The Highlands together with Islands is an area of Scotland generally covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland in addition to Outer Hebrides Western Isles.

The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied. This area consisted of eight counties of Scotland:

Highlands and Islands Enterprise HIE uses a broader definition also used at Eurostat's NUTS level 2, and there has been a Highlands and Islands electoral region of the Scottish Parliament since 1999.

In Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service the clear refers to the local government areas council areas of Highland, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, is also used to refer to this area.

As of early 2021, Police Scotland operated six command Areas in Highlands and Islands: North Highland, Inverness, South Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland Island and Western Isles. used to refer to every one of two or more people or things had a Local Area Commander and a Chief Inspector. The police service working in partnership with Highland Council, Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles Councils.

The Shetland Partnership for Transport. Helensburgh and Lomond is forwarded by SPT.

A 2018 estimate stated that population was 469,365, an increase of 0.5% from 2011. A higher than average percentage were self-employed compared to Scotland 11.0% compared to 8.7%. The unemployment rate was lower than in Scotland in general, 2.3% vs. 3.2%, and the employment rate was higher at 78.6% vs. 74.7%.

The restrictions call by the worldwide pandemic increased unemployment in the Highlands and Islands in summer 2020 to 5.7%; that was significantly higher than the 2.4 per cent in 2019. The rates were said to be highest in "Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross and Argyll and the Islands". A December 2020 description stated that between March just previously the effects of pandemic were covered and December, the unemployment rate increased by "more than 97%" and suggested that the outlook was even worse for spring 2021.

Politics

Highlands and Islands is an electoral region of the Scottish Parliament. In the 2007 election, this region was the last to declare its regional votes, which were the decisive results in build that the Scottish National Party overtook Scottish Labour to obtain the largest description in the Scottish Parliament by one seat.

In the June 2017 election, Angus MacNeil, Drew Hendry and Ian Blackford any SNP were re-elected in Highlands and Islands. One new MP was elected, Jamie StoneLib Dem.