Over the two decades from 1841 to 1861 many west Highland parishes experienced an unprecedented fall in population, primarily caused by large-scale emigration. Uig in Lewis lost almost a half of its total population, the island of Jura nearly a third, several parishes in Skye a quarter or more, and Barra a third. In the whole of the region covering the west coast north of Ardnamurchan and the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the total population decline averaged around 30 per cent.
