Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands has 21,977 residents in 10,622 households (Scotland's Census 2022); 14% are aged 15–29 and 27% of households rent their home.
Four maps of Orkney Islands.
Every dot is a residential postcode. Each map uses the same colour scale, from lowest to highest.
Sources: ONS Postcode Directory, Aug 2026 · HM Land Registry Price Paid Data · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2, Scottish Government · Ofcom Connected Nations 2025
All 6 wards at a glance.
Colour shows where each ward sits among Orkney Islands's wards for that measure, from lowest to highest. Select a ward for its full report.
| Ward | Green 500 m | Services 15 min | Aged 15–29 | Owner-occupied | Flats | Gigabit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray | 9% | 4 | 11% | 77% | 2% | 14% |
| Kirkwall East | 26% | 80 | 16% | 64% | 6% | 13% |
| Kirkwall West and Orphir | 32% | 91 | 17% | 62% | 10% | 13% |
| North Isles | 26% | 2 | 10% | 78% | 0% | 64% |
| Stromness and South Isles | 17% | 36 | 12% | 65% | 4% | 10% |
| West Mainland | 15% | 0 | 12% | 79% | 0% | 37% |
Sources: Scotland's Census 2022 · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Safety.
Police Scotland does not publish street-level crime data on data.police.uk, so Orkney Islands reports leave out the safety block rather than estimate it.
Road safety.
Injury collisions reported to the police in Orkney Islands each year, 2021–2025: 30 of them with a serious or fatal injury.
Counts include only collisions involving personal injury that were reported to the police. Most happen on main roads and at junctions, so a count near a postcode reflects the traffic passing through, not the risk of any one journey.
Source: Department for Transport, STATS19 road safety data (Open Government Licence v3.0)
Food hygiene.
Food businesses in Orkney Islands with a published hygiene rating.
In Scotland, council food safety officers either pass a business or tell it that improvement is required. A result reflects the hygiene standards found on the day of inspection, not the quality of the food.
Source: Food Standards Agency, food hygiene rating data as of 26 October 2026 (Open Government Licence)
Broadband.
Share of homes in Orkney Islands that can get each type of fixed broadband, July 2025.
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, fixed broadband coverage of residential premises, July 2025. © Ofcom copyright
Deprivation, in context.
0 of Orkney Islands's 29 data zones are in the most deprived tenth of Scotland on the 2020v2 index.
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 ranks 6,976 data zones in Scotland from 1 (most deprived 10%) to 10 (least deprived). It is ranked within Scotland only and cannot be compared with the English or Welsh indices. It describes areas, not every household in them.
Source: Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2, Scottish Government
Wards of Orkney Islands.
Every ward has its own page with all of its postcodes.