Croatia

Croatia has 48 inhabited islands with a population of 122,418 (2001). The islands belong to the Dalmatian regions Dubrovnik, Split, Sibenik and Zadar, to the Kvarner region and to the Istria region.

They are ESIN:s newest member (joined 2014): Croatia became a member of ESIN in 2014 and is represented by Island Movement(Cro. Pokret otoka) since October 2022. Island Movement is a network of islanders and all who wish to contribute to the island’s sustainable development. Web page (in Eng,): https://islandmovement.eu/en/

Denmark

In Denmark, small islands are by definition parts of the mainland based larger municipalities. There are 27 such small islands with a population of about 5 300 inhabitants, ranging between 10 and 937.

Samenslutningen af Danske Smaöer, www.danske-smaaoer.dk, works for the people on the small islands.

Estonia

In Estonia there are 16 islands with a total of 47 000 inhabitants. There are two big islands that are regional authorities. The remaining 14 are the small islands with about 3 000 inhabitants ranging from 1 to about 500.

The main purpose of the Association of Estonian Islands,www.saared.ee, is to promote development and sustainable populations on the 16 islands.

Finland

Finland has 431 inhabited small islands in archipelago areas, 152 of them in big lakes. The number of islanders is about 8 700, ranging from 1 to 972. In addition the region Aland is also an archipelago with 25 islands, 24 of these with less than 600 inhabitants.

Finlands Öar rf – FÖSS – www.foss.fi, is the association for the archipelago areas in the southwest.

France

In France, 15 small islands on the Atlantic coast and the Channel sea have a total population of about 15 000 inhabitants, ranging from 186 to 4834.

Since its establishment in 1971, the Association of the Ponant Islands, www.iles-du-ponant.com, promotes economic, social and cultural development for island inhabitants.

Greece

Small islands, defined as having a population of less than 4 000 inhabitants, have formed the Hellenic Small Islands Federation, http://www.smallislands.org/ which has 29 member islands and a total of about 65 000 inhabitants. Most of the bigger islands in Greece are included in administrative island regions.

The organisation works for the revival of insular economies based on the prospect of sustainable development.

Ireland

In Ireland, 33 inhabited small islands have a total of about 3 000 inhabitants ranging from 1 to about 900.

Founded in 1993, Comhdhail Oileain na hEireann (Irish Islands Federation), www.oileain.ie, is the representative organisation of inhabited offshore islands of Ireland.

Italy

There are 29 inhabited Italian small islands. Most of them are municipalities on their own.

There are represented in the Association ANCIM (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Isole Minori), www.ancim.it. In total the islands have about 180 000 inhabitants, ranging from 17 to 57 000. ANCIM is a cooperation organisation for the island municipalities.

Scotland

There are 89 inhabited islands in Scotland with a total of about 100 000 inhabitants, ranging from 1 to about 20 000.

34 of the small islands are governed from mainland based municipalities. Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles with 55 islands have regional status, most of them small.

In 2001, the Scottish Islands Federation, https://federationofscottishislands.wordpress.com, was established to promote, publicise and advance the interests of all Scottish islands.

Sweden

There are 576 inhabited small islands with about 32 000 inhabitants, ranging from 1 to about 5 000.

46 of the islands with 2 200 inhabitants are in lakes.

Skärgardarnas Riksforbund, www.skargardarna.se founded in 1982, is a national organisation promoting economic, cultural and social issues in the archipelagoes areas.

Åland

Åland has 6 500 islands whereof 55 inhabited with 30,000 people.

Företagsam Skargard was founded in 1998 by the six archipelago municipalities Brändö, Vårdö, Kumlinge, Föglö, Sottunga and Kökar. It is an association whose aim is to support micro-businesses and entrepreneurs in the archipelago Företagsam Skargard is partly funded by the European Community.

Åland joined ESIN in September 2009. Their website is http://www.skargarden.ax/ The Instagram handle is @skargarden.ax and they can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skargarden.ax