Over 17% of new company founders in the Outer Hebrides are aged over 60, nearly triple the UK average.

The finding has been uncovered by research conducted by virtual office provider Virtual HQ.

It found that 17.4% of those launching new businesses in the islands are over 60 years old, almost three times the UK average of 5.9%.

The discovery was made by analysing Companies House data of 474,121 new UK companies registered between August 2025 and July 2026.

In the Outer Hebrides, 25 of the 144 directors appointed to new companies during the 12 months were aged over 60.

Orkney Islands ranked second in Scotland, with 13.2% of new company founders over 60. Midlothian over-60s accounted for just 4% of the total.

The study also found that Shetland and Glasgow had the highest number of under-25 company directors, at 10.8%, beating the UK average of 8.7%.