Council areas of Scotland

A council area in Scotland is an area made for local government. There is a total of 32 council areas in Scotland. They are all governed by unitary authorities called "councils". The council areas were created on 1 April 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The Act calls them local authority areas but most people call them council areas.

The council areas have the option of being known as a  when choosing to go by a Gaelic name. However, only Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar (Council of the Western Isles) has chosen this option, while the Highland Council (Comhairle na Gaidhealtachd) uses both an English name and a Gaelic name.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

MAINLANDArea(sq miles)Area(km²)Number of people(2001)Number of people(latest estimate Population Estimates (Current Geographic Boundaries)  data cube as published by statistics.gov.scot on 1st April 2020)How manyper km²(2001)Aberdeen City70182212,1251164Aberdeenshire24396317226,87136Angus8432184108,40050Argyll and Bute2712702391,30613Clackmannanshire6115848,077304Dumfries and Galloway24896446147,76523Dundee2155145,6632648East Ayrshire4921275120,23594East Dunbartonshire68176108,243617East Lothian25766690,088135East Renfrewshire6516889,311532City of Edinburgh100260448,6241725Falkirk113293145,191496Fife5171340349,429261City of Glasgow68175577,8693307Highland10,08526,119208,9148Inverclyde6416784,203503Midlothian13535080,941231Moray864223786,94039North Ayrshire343888135,817153North Lanarkshire184476321,067674Perth and Kinross20835395134,94925Renfrewshire102263172,867659Scottish Borders18254727106,76423South Ayrshire4751230112,09793South Lanarkshire6861778302,216170Stirling866224386,21238West Dunbartonshire6817693,378531West Lothian165427158,714372MAINLAND ALL TOGETHER28,26073,1934,994,276 68ISLANDS     Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)1185307026,5029Orkney Islands396102519,24519Shetland Islands568147121,98815ISLANDS ALL TOGETHER2149556667,735 12SCOTLAND ALL TOGETHER30,40978,7595,062,011 64

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