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Councils of Scotland
Category	Administrative unit
Location	Scotland
Number	32 Councils
Populations	21,400 (Orkney Islands) – 593,200 (Glasgow)
Areas	21 square miles (54 km2) (Dundee) - 11,838 square miles (30,660 km2) (Highland)
Government	Council government
Subdivisions	; Lieutenancy Area, Shire;

For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas", which are all governed by single-tier authorities^[1] designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997^[2] 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 has been 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. 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.

Council areas

Location	Area (sq miles)	Area (km²)	Population (2011)	Density (per km²)
Mainland
Aberdeen City	70	182	222,800	1224
Aberdeenshire	2,439	6,317	253,000	40
Angus	843	2,184	116,000	53
Argyll and Bute	2,712	7,023	88,200	13
Clackmannanshire	61	158	51,400	325
Dumfries and Galloway	2,489	6,446	151,300	23
Dundee City	21	55	147,300	2678
East Ayrshire	492	1,275	122,700	96
East Dunbartonshire	68	176	105,000	597
East Lothian	257	666	99,700	150
East Renfrewshire	65	168	90,600	539
City of Edinburgh	100	260	476,600	1833
Falkirk	113	293	156,000	532
Fife	517	1,340	365,200	273
Glasgow City	68	175	593,200	3390
Highland	11,838	30,659	232,100	8
Inverclyde	64	167	81,500	488
Midlothian	135	350	83,200	238
Moray	864	2,237	93,300	42
North Ayrshire	343	888	138,200	156
North Lanarkshire	184	476	337,800	710
Perth and Kinross	2,083	5,395	146,700	27
Renfrewshire	102	263	174,900	665
Scottish Borders	1,825	4,727	113,900	24
South Ayrshire	475	1,230	112,800	92
South Lanarkshire	686	1,778	313,800	176
Stirling	866	2,243	90,200	40
West Dunbartonshire	68	176	90,700	515
West Lothian	165	427	175,100	410
Total Mainland	28,260	73,193	5,223,100	71
Islands
Na h-Eileanan Siar	1,185	3,070	27,700	9
Orkney Islands	396	1,025	21,400	21
Shetland Islands	568	1,471	23,200	16
Total Islands	2,149	5,566	72,300	13
Total Scotland	30,409	78,759	5,295,400	67

Source: 2011 Census for Scotland^[3]

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.^[4]

Joint board area	Council areas
Ayrshire Ayrshire and Arran in other contexts	East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire
Borders	Scottish Borders
Central Scotland	Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway
Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute	Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire
Fife	Fife
Grampian	Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray
Glasgow	Glasgow
Highlands and Western Isles	Highland and Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)
Lanarkshire	North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire
Lothian	East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian
Orkney and Shetland	Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands
Renfrewshire	East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire
Tayside	Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross

Health

Transport

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

RTP area	Council areas
NESTRANS	Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
TACTRAN	Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Stirling
HITRANS	Argyll and Bute (except Helensburgh and Lomond), Highland, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Orkney
ZetTrans	Shetland
SEStran	Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Midlothian, Fife, Scottish Borders, West Lothian
SWESTRANS	Dumfries and Galloway
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport	Argyll and Bute (Helensburgh and Lomond only), West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire

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,^[5] 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.

Registration county	Operational from
County of Renfrew	6 April 1981
County of Dumbarton	4 October 1982
County of Lanark	3 January 1984
County of the Barony and Regality of Glasgow	30 September 1985
County of Clackmannan	1 October 1992
County of Stirling	1 April 1993
County of West Lothian	1 October 1993
County of Fife	1 April 1995
County of Aberdeen	1 April 1996
County of Kincardine	1 April 1996
County of Ayr	1 April 1997
County of Dumfries	1 April 1997
County of Kirkcudbright	1 April 1997
County of Wigtown	1 April 1997
County of Angus	1 April 1999
County of Kinross	1 April 1999
County of Perth	1 April 1999
County of Berwick	1 October 1999
County of East Lothian	1 October 1999
County of Peebles	1 October 1999
County of Roxburgh	1 October 1999
County of Selkirk	1 October 1999
County of Argyll	1 April 2000
County of Bute	1 April 2000
County of Midlothian	1 April 2001
County of Inverness	1 April 2002
County of Nairn	1 April 2002
County of Banff	1 April 2003
County of Caithness	1 April 2003
County of Moray	1 April 2003
Counties of Orkney and Zetland	1 April 2003
County of Ross and Cromarty	1 April 2003
County of Sutherland	1 April 2003

Sheriffdoms

Sheriffdoms are judicial areas. Since 1 January 1975, these have been six in number:^[6]

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.

Services	Original area (former regions)	Council areas
Central Scotland Police Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service	Central	Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service	Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway
Fife Constabulary Fife Fire and Rescue Service	Fife	Fife
Grampian Police Grampian Fire and Rescue Service	Grampian	Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray
Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service	Lothians and the Scottish Borders	City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, West Lothian
Northern Constabulary Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service	Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles	Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Orkney and Shetland
Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Fire and Rescue	Strathclyde	Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire East Renfrewshire, the City of Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire
Tayside Police Tayside Fire and Rescue Service	Tayside	Angus, the City of Dundee and Perth & Kinross

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 continue to form current registration districts. 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.

References

^ With respect to Scotland the phrase "unitary authority" is merely descriptive; in the United Kingdom the phrase "unitary authority" as a designation is specific to local government areas in England.

^ Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997

^ 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland - Release 1B Table 2: Census day usually resident population by council area, 2001 and 2011 , Accessed 22 March 2013

^ Scottish Assessors Association

^ Registers of Scotland publication - Land Register Counties and Operational Dates

^ The Sheriffdoms Reorganisation Order 1974 S.I. 1974/2087 (S.191)

[1] With respect to Scotland the phrase "unitary authority" is merely descriptive; in the United Kingdom the phrase "unitary authority" as a designation is specific to local government areas in England.

[2] Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997

[3] 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland - Release 1B Table 2: Census day usually resident population by council area, 2001 and 2011 , Accessed 22 March 2013

[4] Scottish Assessors Association

[5] Registers of Scotland publication - Land Register Counties and Operational Dates

[6] The Sheriffdoms Reorganisation Order 1974 S.I. 1974/2087 (S.191)

v t e Administrative geography of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom local government	History Subdivisions: Shrievalties Lieutenancy areas Counties (list)
England local government	History Subdivisions: Regions Ceremonial counties list Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan counties Unitary authorities (list) Districts (list) Civil parishes (list)
Northern Ireland local government	History Subdivisions: Counties Districts
Scotland local government	History Subdivisions: Sheriffdoms Lieutenancy areas Council areas Community council areas Civil parishes
Wales local government	History Subdivisions: Preserved counties Principal areas Communities (list) Historic counties

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