Today the main problems of the islands are the poor demographic picture caused by depopulation, low birth rate, prevalence of the elderly population, and relatively low economic activities. In that reason, the paper presents the influence of the traffic connections between Croatian's islands and mainland on the demographic picture of the islands. The aim of this paper is to conduct systematic and scientifically research of influence various factors on the demographic picture of the islands in order to insure the sustainable development of the islands and the retention of the inhabitants on the islands. This paper analyzes the population of Croatian's islands according to the latest census and the category is correlated with the most prominent limiting factor of development, which is the traffic connection between islands and mainland. The research shows that the improvement of traffic connection and increased density of traffic network between islands and mainland does not have a direct impact on the number of island's population, but it has a positive impact on all economic and social activities, by creating the prerequisites for sustainable development of the islands and raising the quality of life on islands, as evidenced by the growth of the island's population on bridged islands and drop population in small islands and islands unrelated to bridges. Sažetak Danas su glavni problemi na otocima loša demografska slika uzrokovana depopulacijom, niske stope rođenih, pretežito starija populacija i relativno oskudne ekonomske aktivnosti. U tom smislu članak predstavlja utjecaj prometnih povezanosti među hrvatskima otocima i kopnom te demografsku sliku otoka. Cilj je ovoga članka provesti sustavno i znanstveno istraživanje ujecaja različitih čimbenika na demografsku sliku otoka kako bismo osigurali održivi razvoj otoka i zadržali stanovnike na otocima. Ovaj članak analizira populaciju otokâ prema zadnjem popisu stanovništva i kategoriju povezanu s najistaknutijim ograničavajućim čimbenikom razvoja, to jest prometnu povezanost među otocima i kopnom. Istraživanje pokazuje da poboljšanje prometne povezanosti i povećana gustoća prometne mreže između otoka i kopna nema izravan utjecaj na razinu populacije na otoku, ali ima pozitivan utjecaj na sve ekonomske i društvene aktivnosti, stvaranjem pretpostavki za održivi razvoj otoka i podizanje kvalitete života na otocima, kao što je evidentirano porastom populacije na otocima s mostom i padom populacije na malim otocima i otocima nepovezanih mostom. KEY WORDS island's population transport connection between islands and mainland island's economy sustainable development KLJUČNE RIJEČI populacija otoka transportna povezanost otokâ i kopna otočno gospodarstvo održivi razvoj