The nature of socio-economic sustainability, in
terms of population, economic activity and culture,
has been explored in the context of remote rural
Scotland, and the results presented in a simple but
widely applicable matrix framework. In terms of
population and demography, it has been shown that
population decline has been reversed in all but the
most remote island areas, and that the age structure
is generally similar to that of the rest of Scotland.
Population growth has been achieved primarily
through in-migration, a process which has profound
socio-cultural implications. There is little evidence
of any relationship between remoteness and levels of
economic activity, although the economic sustainability
of the remoter area is very much constrained
by its dependence on declining and low income
sectors. It has been shown that in a country such as
the U.K. which has highly developed centre-periphery
transfer mechanisms and a strong tradition of
regional policy, structural weaknesses and poor
performance may be to some extent masked by a
variety of forms of both transparent and hidden