The Subdivisions of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities, as used by government and defined in law. They do not coincide with the traditional counties of Scotland.

The present boundaries have applied since 1995 under the provisions of the Local Government Act (Scotland, etc). 1994. Before then there existed administrative counties of Scotland. Local government (introduced 1889) has never used the traditional counties of Scotland.

MAINLAND Area
(hectares)		 Population
(1993)		 Density
(per hectare)
City of Aberdeen 18,216 218,220 11.98
Aberdeenshire 631,736 223,630 0.35
Angus 218,396 111,020 0.51
Argyll and Bute 702,300 139,020 0.20
Clackmannanshire 15,809 48,660 3.08
Dumfries and Galloway 644,567 147,900 0.23
City of Dundee 5,500 153,710 27.95
East Ayrshire 127,527 123,820 0.97
East Dunbartonshire 17,551 110,220 6.28
East Lothian 66,558 146,730 2.20
East Renfrewshire 16,802 86,780 5.16
City of Edinburgh 26,001 441,620 16.98
Falkirk 29,300 142,610 4.87
Fife 134,045 351,200 2.62
City of Glasgow 17,472 623,850 35.71
Highland 2,611,906 206,900 0.08
Inverclyde 16,724 89,990 5.38
Midlothian 34,966 79,910 2.29
Moray 223,694 86,250 0.39
North Ayrshire 88,755 90,550 1.02
North Lanarkshire 47,648 326,750 6.86
Perth and Kinross 539,479 130,470 0.24
Renfrewshire 26,250 176,970 6.74
Scottish Borders 472,749 105,300 0.22
South Ayrshire 123,021 113,960 0.93
South Lanarkshire 177,789 307,100 1.73
Stirling 224,320 81,630 0.36
West Dunbartonshire 17,573 97,790 5.56
West Lothian 42,664 146,730 3.44
TOTAL MAINLAND 7,319,318 5,048,200 0.69
ISLANDS      
Orkneys 102,498 19,760 0.19
Shetland 147,097 22,830 0.16
Western Islands 307,005 29,410 0.10
TOTAL ISLANDS 556,600 72,000 0.13
TOTAL SCOTLAND 7,875,918 5,120,200 0.65

History

With the setting up of county councils in 1889, the regions they covered in Scotland resembled the historic counties of Scotland, but not exactly. For example, Ross and Cromarty covered the area of Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (As Cromartyshire consists of a series of enclaves, this made sense.) Several names differed.

After the 1974 local government reforms, new regions (pointedly not called counties, unlike their cousins in England and Wales) appeared as follows:

See also: Administrative counties of England, Administrative counties of Wales