International Case Studies on Demographic Change in Remote Rural Areas: What can Scotland learn from elsewhere?

This working paper is an output of a project funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural andEnvironment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division’s 2016-2020 StrategicResearch Programme1. Specifically, this work has been carried out under ResearchDeliverable 3.4.1 ‘Demographic Change in Remote Areas’. The underpinning researchquestion addressed by this project is “How do changes in the population of remote rural areasof Scotland affect the social, economic and ecological resilience of these areas?” Previousworking papers have specifically addressed the definition of sparsely populated areas and thedemographic and economic structures and policy approaches in these areas (Copus andHopkins; 2017 and Mc Morran; Copus and Atterton 2017). This paper focuses on the selection of a small number of case study regions from outwith Scotland, which have comparabledegrees of remoteness and sparsity (or “population potential”), with the aim of investigatingthese cases as potential sources of good practice ideas and alternative policy approaches intackling demographic stagnation or decline which are of relevance to Scotland.