ISLANDERS can lay claim to living in the best spots of Scotland after new research rated Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles as the country's top three areas.

The three areas take up the top spots in the list of the best places to bide, with the popularity of island life being linked to lower population and crime rates and higher employment rates.

The research, from Bank of Scotland, shows that Orkney, which is number one on the list, has the highest employment rate in Scotland and the lowest crime rate in the UK, while Shetland, at number two, performs particularly well in education.

The Western Isles, which jumped from number seven to number three this year, also perform well in a number of categories and residents there came out as the happiest in the country, with the highest life satisfaction rate.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at the bank, said: "Life in the Highlands and Islands has always ranked extremely well in the Bank of Scotland Quality of Life Survey.

"The lower population density creates tight-knit communities, where the crime rate is much lower than the average for Scotland, such as Orkney which has the lowest rate in the UK.

"Low traffic flow also makes these communities much safer and more peaceful places to live.

"The wide open spaces means houses tend to be larger than the Scottish average, plus they have gardens which many city or town dwellings lack.

"Primary school classroom sizes and the secondary education pupil to teacher ratio are much smaller, so there is more money to spend per child on education."

He added: "The stunning scenery, quieter surrounds and high employment rates all help towards creating happy communities.

"According to our findings, those in the Western Isles are the happiest, have the highest life satisfaction, feel their lives are most worthwhile and have the lowest levels of anxiety."

The research shows that Orkney has the lowest burglary rate in the whole of the UK and the lowest population density, with 22 residents per square kilometre compared to the Scottish average of 480.5.

The Shetland Islands has one of the lowest average numbers of pupils in primary schools across the UK and the highest percentage of 15 year olds with five or more SCQFs in Scotland.

While in the Western Isles, adults have the highest rate of life satisfaction, scoring 8.4 out of ten, compared to the Scottish and UK average of 7.7.

Lewis resident Linda Sutherland said the peaceful, remote surroundings make the islands a "lovely place to live".

The 54-year-old moved to the village of Breasclete 15 years ago after she visited on holiday and loved it so much she decided to stay.

She said: "It maybe doesn't suit everyone, but I'm a bit of a hermit and I love that it's so quiet.

"As soon as I visited all those years ago I just felt like I'd come home.

"I don't like to be surrounded by people so the remoteness and quietness really appealed to me, and then, when you do want to meet people, the people here are much more honest and very friendly."

Ms Sutherland was a computer programmer for IBM, based in Frankfurt, when she decided to make the move. She went on to launch her own soap-making company on moving to the island.

She added: "I came from a corporate world where people were very different. I was earning a lot of money and I don't make anything near that now, but I have absolutely no regrets.

"I love living here."

Glasgow was listed as the worst place to live, with West Dunbartonshire and Inverclyde named as the second and third worst places.