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Council areas of Scotland
ShetlandOrkneyMorayAberdeenshireAberdeen CityAngusDundee CityFifeScottish BordersDumfries and GallowayEast AyrshireSouth AyrshireArgyll and ButePerth and KinrossOuter HebridesHighlandN. Ayrsh.IVCRFWWDUEDUGLGERW N. Lanark.Falk.W. Loth.EDHMid- lothianEast LothianCLKStirlingSouth Lanark.
Category	Administrative unit
Location	Scotland
Number	32
Populations	22,020 (Orkney Islands) – 622,820 (Glasgow)
Areas	60 km (23 sq mi) (Dundee) – 25,653 km (9,905 sq mi) (Highland)
Government	Council government
Subdivisions	None

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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" (Scottish Gaelic: comhairlean), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997 of being known (but not re-designated) as a "comhairle" when opting for a Gaelic name; only Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Council of the Western Isles) has chosen this option, whereas the Highland Council (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd) has adopted its Gaelic form alongside its English equivalent, informally.

The council areas have been in existence since 1 April 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. Historically, Scotland was divided into 34 counties or shires. Although these no longer have any administrative function, they are still used to some extent in Scotland for cultural and geographical purposes, and some of the current council areas are named after them. There are also a number of other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils.

At the most local level, Scotland is divided into civil parishes, which are now used only for statistical purposes such as the census. The lowest level of administrative subdivision are the communities, which may elect community councils.

History of the subdivisions of Scotland

Traditionally burghs have been the key unit of the local government of Scotland, being highly autonomous entities, with rights to representation in the old Parliament of Scotland. Even after the Acts of Union 1707, burghs continued to be the principal subdivision. Until 1889, administration was on a burgh and parish basis.

The years following 1889 saw the introduction of a hierarchy of local government administration comprising counties, counties of cities, large burghs and small burghs.

With effect from 16 May 1975 and until 31 March 1996 the local government divisions of Scotland consisted of an upper tier of regions each containing a lower tier of districts except for the single-tier island council areas. Since 1996 there has only been a single tier of government, and the former island council areas are of equal status to the other councils.

Council areas

Coat of arms	Council area	Council	Population (2022)	Area (km)	Administrative centre
	Glasgow City	Glasgow City Council	622,820	175	Glasgow
	City of Edinburgh	City of Edinburgh Council	514,990	263	Edinburgh
	Fife	Fife Council	371,340	1,325	Glenrothes
	North Lanarkshire	North Lanarkshire Council	340,930	470	Motherwell
	South Lanarkshire	South Lanarkshire Council	327,430	1,772	Hamilton
–	Aberdeenshire	Aberdeenshire Council	263,750	6,313	Aberdeen
	Highland	Highland Council	235,710	25,653	Inverness
	Aberdeen City	Aberdeen City Council	224,190	186	Aberdeen
	West Lothian	West Lothian Council	181,720	428	Livingston
	Renfrewshire	Renfrewshire Council	184,340	261	Paisley
	Falkirk	Falkirk Council	158,450	297	Falkirk
	Perth and Kinross	Perth and Kinross Council	151,120	5,286	Perth
	Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway Council	145,770	6,426	Dumfries
	Dundee City	Dundee City Council	148,350	60	Dundee
	North Ayrshire	North Ayrshire Council	133,490	885	Irvine
	East Ayrshire	East Ayrshire Council	120,390	1,262	Kilmarnock
	Angus	Angus Council	114,660	2,181	Forfar
	Scottish Borders	Scottish Borders Council	116,820	4,732	Newtown St Boswells
	South Ayrshire	South Ayrshire Council	111,560	1,222	Ayr
	East Dunbartonshire	East Dunbartonshire Council	108,980	174	Kirkintilloch
	East Lothian	East Lothian Council	112,450	679	Haddington
	Moray	Moray Council	94,280	2,238	Elgin
–	East Renfrewshire	East Renfrewshire Council	97,160	174	Giffnock
	Stirling	Stirling Council	92,530	2,186	Stirling
	Midlothian	Midlothian Council	97,030	354	Dalkeith
	West Dunbartonshire	West Dunbartonshire Council	88,270	159	Dumbarton
	Argyll and Bute	Argyll and Bute Council	87,920	6,907	Lochgilphead
	Inverclyde	Inverclyde Council	78,340	160	Greenock
	Clackmannanshire	Clackmannanshire Council	51,750	159	Alloa
	Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	26,120	3,056	Stornoway
	Shetland Islands	Shetland Islands Council	23,020	1,467	Lerwick
	Orkney	Orkney Islands Council	22,020	990	Kirkwall

Other subdivisions

Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils.

Electoral and valuation

There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax and rates.

Health

See also NHS Scotland

Until 1 April 2014 the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area despite being located in South Lanarkshire. They are now part of NHS Lanarkshire.

Transport

The Scottish Government has created seven "Regional Transport Partnerships", for establishing transport policy in the regions. They broadly follow council area groupings.

Eurostat NUTS

In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), Scotland is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKM", which is subdivided as follows:

NUTS 1	Code	NUTS 2	Code	NUTS 3	Code
Scotland	UKM	Eastern Scotland	UKM2	Angus and Dundee	UKM21
				Clackmannanshire and Fife	UKM22
				East Lothian and Midlothian	UKM23
				Scottish Borders	UKM24
				Edinburgh	UKM25
				Falkirk	UKM26
				Perth and Kinross, and Stirling	UKM27
				West Lothian	UKM28
		South Western Scotland	UKM3	East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, and Helensburgh and Lomond	UKM31
				Dumfries and Galloway	UKM32
				East and North Ayrshire mainland	UKM33
				Glasgow	UKM34
				Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, and Renfrewshire	UKM35
				North Lanarkshire	UKM36
				South Ayrshire	UKM37
				South Lanarkshire	UKM38
		North Eastern Scotland	UKM5	Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire	UKM50
		Highlands and Islands	UKM6	Caithness and Sutherland, and Ross and Cromarty	UKM61
				Inverness, Nairn, Moray, and Badenoch and Strathspey	UKM62
				Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, Arran and Cumbrae, and Argyll and Bute (except Helensburgh and Lomond)	UKM63
				Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	UKM64
				Orkney Islands	UKM65
				Shetland Islands	UKM66

Land registration

The current land registration system in Scotland divides Scotland into 33 Registration Counties, each coming into effect on various dates between 1981 and 2003. These areas in most cases resemble those of the pre-1975 administrative counties with Glasgow being the only current city to form a registration county.

Sheriffdoms

Sheriffdoms are judicial areas. Since 1 January 1975, these have been six in number:

• Glasgow and Strathkelvin
• Grampian, Highland and Islands
• Lothian and Borders
• North Strathclyde
• South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway
• Tayside, Central and Fife

Lieutenancy areas

The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarch's representatives. The areas are similar to the Historic Counties and the Registration Counties, but are not identical to either. Most notably, the four cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow form separate areas from the surrounding countryside, with the Lord Provost of each city acting ex officio as the lord-lieutenant.

Lieutenancy areas of Scotland

Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Ayrshire and Arran Banffshire Berwickshire Caithness Clackmannanshire Dumfries Dunbartonshire Dundee East Lothian Edinburgh Fife Glasgow Inverness Kincardineshire Lanarkshire Midlothian Moray Nairn Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale Stirling and Falkirk Sutherland The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Tweeddale West Lothian Western Isles Wigtown Not shown: Orkney Shetland

Former police and fire services

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 resulted in the merger of local police and fire services on 1 April 2013 to form the Police Service of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis Phoilis na h-Alba) and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS, Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba).

Prior to 1975 policing was the responsibility of the Cities and Burghs of Scotland (see List of burghs in Scotland). Between 1975 and 2013 Scotland was subdivided into Police and fire service areas based on the regions and districts and island council areas that were also formed in 1975. The police and fire service regions used between 1975 and 2013 are listed below.

Lower level subdivisions

Scotland is divided into 871 civil parishes which often resemble same-named but legally different ecclesiastical parishes. Although they have had no administrative function since 1930, they still exist and are still used for statistical purposes such as the census. Many former civil parish areas also continued to form registration districts until 1 January 2007. Many boundary changes have occurred over the years and an area currently derived from an old parish might no longer contain a place previously within that parish. Similarly, county boundaries (as still used for land registration) have also changed over the years such that a parish mentioned historically (generally before the 1860s) as being in one county (or sometimes two due to straddling a border) might now be in a neighbouring county and consequentially in a different succeeding council area.

For most administrative purposes, the base level of sub-division in Scotland is now that of communities, which may elect community councils. The main role of these bodies is to channel and reflect local opinion to other bodies; they otherwise have very limited powers. There are around 1,200 communities in Scotland. Not all communities have councils; some have joint councils.

Scottish communities are the nearest equivalent to civil parishes in England.

See also

• List of local governments in the United Kingdom
• ISO 3166-2:GB, subdivision codes for the United Kingdom
• Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions
• Scottish Westminster constituencies

References

1. "Local government facts and figures: Scotland". lgiu.org. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
2. "Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997".
3. "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
4. "Scottish Assessors – Scottish Assessors Association website".
5. "Information Paper - European statistical areas (NUTS and LAU) in Scotland" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. 2022.
6. Registers of Scotland publication - Land Register Counties and Operational Dates
7. The Sheriffdoms Reorganisation Order 1974 S.I. 1974/2087 (S.191)
8. geo.fyi (5 April 2021). "Police Scotland Commands, Divisions and Subdivisions". geo.fyi. Retrieved 12 June 2023.

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