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:

• Borders
  • Berwickshire
  • Ettrick and Lauderdale
  • Roxburgh
  • Tweeddale

• Central
  • Clackmannan
  • Falkirk
  • Stirling

• Dumfries and Galloway
  • Annandale and Eskdale
  • Nithsdale
  • Stewartry
  • Wigtown

• Fife
  • Dumfermline
  • Kirkcaldy
  • North-East Fife

• Grampian
  • Aberdeen
  • Banff and Buchan
  • Gordon
  • Kincardine
  • Moray

• Highland
  • Badenoch and Strathspey
  • Caithness
  • Inverness
  • Lochaber
  • Nairn
  • Ross and Cromarty
  • Skye and Lochalsh
  • Sutherland

• Lothian
  • East Lothian
  • Edinburgh
  • Midlothian
  • West Lothian

• Strathclyde
  • Argyll and Bute
  • Bearsden and Milngavie
  • Clydebank
  • Clydesdale
  • Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
  • Cumnock and Doone Valley
  • Cunninghame
  • Dumbarton
  • East Kilbride
  • Eastwood
  • Glasgow
  • Hamilton
  • Inverclyde
  • Kilmarnock and Loudoun
  • Kyle and Carrick
  • Monklands
  • Motherwell
  • Renfrew
  • Strathkelvin

• Tayside
  • Angus
  • Dundee
  • Perth and Kinross

• Orkney Islands
• Shetland Islands
• Western Isles

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