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According to Amanda Berry, there will be several changes in 2009-04. Bedfordshire will be split into two unitary authorities: Central Bedfordshire (consisting of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire districts) and Bedford (former Bedford district). Cheshire will be split into two unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester (former Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston, and Vale Royal districts) and Cheshire East (former Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich, and Macclesfield districts). Cornwall, Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, and Wiltshire will all become unitary authorities. All seven entities were administrative counties. As unitary authorities, they will have no internal districts; that is, if the original entity consisted of more than one district, those districts will be merged.

While reviewing all of the FIPS 10-4 subdivision codes, I discovered that two of them were switched on this page: the codes for Saint Helens and Staffordshire. Also, another two were switched: Falkirk and Orkney Islands. I have corrected them in the yellow table below.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-9 was published on 2007-11-28. The only change in the United Kingdom section is to indicate the status of each of the subdivisions.

ISO 3166-1 Newsletter No. V-11 was issued on 2006-03-29. It assigns new country codes to Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Jersey. These are all crown tributaries of the United Kingdom. They are politically independent but recognize the monarch of the United Kingdom as their chief of state. Hitherto, they had been considered part of the U.K. by ISO. ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, brings the ISO subdivision codes into line with the ISO country codes. There are no changes to codes within the U.K., only deletions of the crown tributaries.

Around 2000, all the NUTS codes (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) in the United Kingdom were revised. The new codes are shown below (1).

The NUTS code scheme was lightly revised again in 2003. The code for "Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and North East Moray" changed from UKM11 to UKM10.

There are currently 133 NUTS-3 areas in the United Kingdom. The correspondence between NUTS-3 areas and the primary divisions listed in the table below is irregular. Most NUTS-3 areas correspond to one primary division or a small number of contiguous primary divisions. A few primary divisions, however, contain parts of several NUTS-3 areas. In those cases, I've given the most detailed NUTS level possible to fit the division. While working on the NUTS codes, I discovered that two unitary authorities (Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland) belong in North East, not Yorkshire and the Humber as previously listed. I'm not sure whether this represents a change in the scope of that NUTS-1 area, or a mistake.

The 1991 census figures were originally reported following the boundary lines that prevailed before the reorganization of 1995-1998. After the reorganization, some divisions had the same name, but different territory. I searched for corrected data on the Internet and found a reliable-sounding study  (PDF file) done at the University of Leeds. In Appendix 2 of the study, a column of figures headed "1991 Census usually resident population, 1998 boundaries" contains 1991 population figures for the divisions according to their modified boundaries. The study fully explains how the data were calculated. I present those figures in the Pop-1991 column in the table below.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It amends the original standard by removing the text "(City of)" wherever it appears.

Change Notice 7 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-01-10. It cancels all the FIPS codes for the divisions of the United Kingdom as they stood in 1995, and assigns new codes to the divisions as of 1998. The new codes are shown in the table below.

The United Kingdom underwent a local government reform in 1995-1998. Of the four countries, only Northern Ireland's local government structure remained unchanged (26 districts). Wales was reorganized into 22 unitary authorities. Scotland emerged with 29 unitary districts and three island areas. England's new primary subdivisions are 34 counties, 47 unitary authorities, 36 metropolitan districts, and 33 London boroughs. The 34 counties are subdivided into 238 districts; the other divisions are all unitary, meaning that they have no smaller units of local government under them. The counties are sometimes called administrative counties, to distinguish them from the ceremonial counties. The reform is explained in more detail on the Web page of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions  (archived copy). Another understandable summary is found in this Adobe pdf file from the Local Government Association .

On 2000-07-03, a new Greater London Authority took power. It became a primary division, with the 33 London boroughs (map ) as subdivisions. Although the standards still don't list it, I now show Greater London instead of its 33 boroughs.

A great many English people identify themselves with the historic county of their residence. The old counties had endured for seven centuries or more in most cases, and represented an enormous weight of tradition. Those counties, which now exist only as lines on a map, are called ceremonial, historical, or geographical counties. The Association of British Counties  encourages people to continue using historical counties as a means of identifying locations. Keith Edkins  has another analysis of the different meanings of county.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on 1998-12-15. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For the United Kingdom, the draft standard showed a total of 96 divisions, which represented the status up to April 1, 1995. Each one was assigned a three-letter code. The final standard shows 233 divisions, also with three-letter codes. The codes are unchanged for those divisions which were unaffected by the reorganization; otherwise, all the codes are distinct. As supplementary material, both versions give three-letter codes for the six countries, as well as for three compound entities ("for completeness"): England and Wales, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom.

Country overview: 

Short name	UNITED KINGDOM
ISO code	GB
FIPS code	UK
Language	English (en)
Time zone	+0~
Capital	London

 

The United Kingdom has been independent for the entire 20th century. The name Great Britain properly refers only to the island shared by England, Scotland, and Wales; however, it is often casually used to refer to the whole United Kingdom. The official name was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1927, when it was changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, recognizing the separation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The United Kingdom has had many dependencies and possessions during the 20th century that are listed on this site as separate countries.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Storbritannien, Forenede Kongerige, Forenede Kongerige Storbritannien og Nordirland (formal)
2. Dutch: Verenigd Koninkrijk, Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland (formal)
3. English: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (formal)
4. Finnish: Iso-Britannia, Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta Iso-Britannia ja Pohjois-Irlanti (formal)
5. French: Royaume-Uni, Royaume-Uni m de Grande-Bretagne f et d'Irlande f du Nord (formal)
6. German: Grossbritannien (Swiss), Vereinigtes Königreich, Vereinigtes Königreich n Großbritannien n und Nordirland n
7. Icelandic: Bretland
8. Italian: Regno Unito, Regno m Unito di Gran Bretagna f e Irlanda f del Nord
9. Norwegian: Det forente kongerike Storbritannia og Nord-Irland (formal) (Bokmål), Det sameinte kongeriket Storbritannia og Nord-Irland (formal) (Nynorsk), Storbritannia
10. Portuguese: Reino Unido, Reino m Unido da Grã-Bretanha f e Irlanda f do Norte (formal)
11. Spanish: Reino Unido, Reino m Unido de Gran Bretaña f e Irlanda f del Norte (formal)
12. Swedish: Storbritannien, Förenade kungariket

Origin of name: 

descriptive: formed originally by union of Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland

Primary subdivisions: 

The United Kingdom is divided into 198 divisions with a variety of statuses (see the second table below).

Name	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	Type	Pop-2001	Pop-1991	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Old County
Aberdeen	GB.AR	ABE	UKT5	UKM10	udc	212,125	204,885	186	72	Aberdeen	Grampian
Aberdeenshire	GB.AS	ABD	UKT6	UKM10	ud	226,871	215,387	6,318	2,439	Aberdeen	Grampian
Anglesey	GB.AY	AGY	UKX1	UKL11	uaw	66,829	69,149	719	278	Llangefni	Anglesey
Angus	GB.AG	ANS	UKT7	UKM21	ud	108,400	107,853	2,181	842	Forfar	Tayside
Antrim	GB.AN	ANT	UKQ6	UKN03	ds	48,366	44,516	405	156	Antrim	Antrim
Ards	GB.AD	ARD	UKQ7	UKN03	ds	73,244	64,764	368	142	Newtownards	Down
Argyll and Bute	GB.AB	AGB	UKT8	UKM43	ud	91,306	92,046	6,930	2,676	Lochgilphead	Strathclyde
Armagh	GB.AM	ARM	UKQ8	UKN05	ds	54,263	51,817	667	258	Armagh	Armagh
Ballymena	GB.BL	BLA	UKQ9	UKN03	ds	58,610	56,641	634	245	Ballymena	Antrim
Ballymoney	GB.BY	BLY	UKR1	UKN04	ds	26,894	24,198	417	161	Ballymoney	Antrim
Banbridge	GB.BB	BNB	UKR2	UKN03	ds	41,392	35,779	441	170	Banbridge	Down
Barnsley	GB.BX	BNS	UKA3	UKE31	mb	218,063	221,621	328	127	Barnsley	South Yorkshire
Bath and North East Somerset	GB.BN	BAS	UKA4	UKK12	ua	169,040	158,692	351	136	Bristol	Somerset
Bedfordshire	GB.BD	BDF	UKA5	UKH22	ac	381,572	352,434	1,193	461	Bedford	Bedfordshire
Belfast	GB.BF	BFS	UKR3	UKN01	ds	277,391	279,237	130	50	Belfast	Antrim, Down
Birmingham	GB.BI	BIR	UKA7	UKG31	cmb	977,087	970,442	265	102	Birmingham	West Midlands
Blackburn with Darwen	GB.BW	BBD	UKA8	UKD41	ua	137,470	136,612	137	53	Blackburn	Lancashire
Blackpool	GB.BP	BPL	UKA9	UKD42	ua	142,283	146,069	35	14	Blackpool	Lancashire
Blaenau Gwent	GB.BG	BGW	UKX2	UKL16	uaw	70,064	72,250	109	42	Ebbw Vale	Monmouth
Bolton	GB.BT	BOL	UKB1	UKD32	mb	261,037	258,584	140	54	Bolton	Greater Manchester
Bournemouth	GB.BM	BMH	UKB2	UKK21	ua	163,444	151,302	46	18	Bournemouth	Dorset
Bracknell Forest	GB.BC	BRC	UKB3	UKJ11	ua	109,617	95,949	109	42	Bracknell	Berkshire
Bradford	GB.BV	BRD	UKB4	UKE41	cmb	467,665	456,929	366	141	Bradford	West Yorkshire
Bridgend	GB.BJ	BGE	UKX3	UKL17	uaw	128,645	128,242	246	95	Bridgend	Glamorgan
Brighton and Hove	GB.BH	BNH	UKB6	UKJ21	ua	247,817	228,946	82	32	Hove	East Sussex
Bristol	GB.BS	BST	UKB7	UKK11	cua	380,615	376,146	110	42	Bristol	Gloucestershire
Buckinghamshire	GB.BU	BKM	UKB9	UKJ13	ac	479,026	454,691	1,569	606	Aylesbury	Buckinghamshire
Bury	GB.BR	BUR	UKC1	UKD32	mb	180,608	177,288	99	38	Bury	Greater Manchester
Caerphilly	GB.CP	CAY	UKX4	UKL16	uaw	169,519	169,577	279	108	Tredomen, Ystrad Fawr	Monmouth, Glamorgan
Calderdale	GB.CX	CLD	UKC2	UKE43	mb	192,405	191,585	363	140	Halifax	West Yorkshire
Cambridgeshire	GB.CM	CAM	UKC3	UKH12	ac	552,658	492,428	3,067	1,184	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire
Cardiff	GB.CA	CRF	UKX5	UKL22	uaw	305,353	285,291	139	54	Cardiff	Glamorgan
Carmarthenshire	GB.CI	CMN	UKX7	UKL14	uaw	172,842	168,364	2,398	926	Carmarthen	Carmarthen
Carrickfergus	GB.CF	CKF	UKR4	UKN02	ds	37,659	32,750	85	33	Carrickfergus	Antrim
Castlereagh	GB.CS	CSR	UKR5	UKN02	ds	66,488	60,799	84	33	Castlereagh	Down
Ceredigion	GB.CG	CGN	UKX6	UKL14	uaw	74,941	63,094	1,797	694	Aberaeron, Aberystwyth	Cardigan
Cheshire	GB.CH	CHS	UKC5	UKD22	ac	673,788	650,215	2,081	803	Chester	Cheshire
Clackmannanshire	GB.CC	CLK	UKU1	UKM22	ud	48,077	47,679	157	61	Alloa	Central
Coleraine	GB.CL	CLR	UKR6	UKN04	ds	56,315	50,438	478	184	Coleraine	Londonderry
Conwy	GB.CW	CWY	UKX8	UKL13	uaw	109,596	106,321	1,130	436	Conwy	Caernarvon, Denbigh
Cookstown	GB.CK	CKT	UKR7	UKN05	ds	32,581	31,082	512	198	Cookstown	Tyrone
Cornwall	GB.CO	CON	UKC6	UKK30	ac	499,114	468,425	3,559	1,374	Truro	Cornwall
Coventry	GB.CT	COV	UKC7	UKG33	cmb	300,848	293,917	97	37	Coventry	West Midlands
Craigavon	GB.CR	CGV	UKR8	UKN03	ds	80,671	74,986	280	108	Craigavon	Armagh
Cumbria	GB.CU	CMA	UKC9	UKD1	ac	487,607	483,163	6,824	2,635	Carlisle	Cumbria
Darlington	GB.DA	DAL	UKD1	UKC13	ua	97,838	98,906	197	76	Darlington	Durham
Denbighshire	GB.DI	DEN	UKX9	UKL13	uaw	93,065	90,548	844	326	Ruthin	Denbigh, Flint
Derby	GB.DE	DER	UKD2	UKF11	cua	221,708	218,802	78	30	Derby	Derbyshire
Derbyshire	GB.DB	DBY	UKD3	UKF1	ac	734,585	709,834	2,550	985	Matlock	Derbyshire
Derry	GB.LD	DRY	UKS6	UKN04	ds	105,066	95,371	373	144	Londonderry	Londonderry
Devon	GB.DO	DEV	UKD4	UKK43	ac	704,493	646,903	6,561	2,533	Exeter	Devon
Doncaster	GB.DC	DNC	UKD5	UKE31	mb	286,866	288,854	581	224	Doncaster	South Yorkshire
Dorset	GB.DS	DOR	UKD6	UKK22	ac	390,980	361,215	2,541	981	Dorchester	Dorset
Down	GB.DW	DOW	UKR9	UKN03	ds	63,828	58,008	638	246	Downpatrick	Down
Dudley	GB.DY	DUD	UKD7	UKG34	mb	305,155	305,070	98	38	Dudley	West Midlands
Dumfries and Galloway	GB.DG	DGY	UKU2	UKM32	ud	147,765	147,805	6,439	2,486	Dumfries	Dumfries and Galloway
Dundee	GB.DU	DND	UKU3	UKM21	udc	145,663	149,911	65	25	Dundee	Tayside
Dungannon	GB.DN	DGN	UKS1	UKN05	ds	47,735	45,428	763	294	Dungannon	Tyrone
Durham	GB.DH	DUR	UKD8	UKC14	ac	493,470	493,459	2,233	862	Durham	Durham
East Ayrshire	GB.EA	EAY	UKU4	UKM33	ud	120,235	122,455	1,252	483	Kilmarnock	Strathclyde
East Dunbartonshire	GB.ED	EDU	UKU5	UKM31	ud	108,243	109,405	172	66	Kirkintilloch	Strathclyde
East Lothian	GB.EL	ELN	UKU6	UKM23	ud	90,088	84,114	678	262	Haddington	Lothian
East Renfrewshire	GB.ER	ERW	UKU7	UKM35	ud	89,311	85,353	173	67	Giffnock	Strathclyde
East Riding of Yorkshire	GB.EY	ERY	UKE1	UKE12	ua	314,113	291,974	2,415	932	Beverley	East Riding of Yorkshire
East Sussex	GB.ES	ESX	UKE2	UKJ22	ac	492,324	461,501	1,713	661	Lewes	East Sussex
Edinburgh	GB.EB	EDH	UKU8	UKM25	udc	448,624	418,747	262	101	Edinburgh	Lothian
Eilean Siar	GB.WI	ELS	UKW8	UKM44	ia	26,502	29,600	3,134	1,210	Stornoway	Western Isles
Essex	GB.EX	ESS	UKE4	UKH33	ac	1,310,835	1,240,818	3,469	1,339	Chelmsford	Essex
Falkirk	GB.FK	FAL	UKU9	UKM26	ud	145,191	141,146	299	115	Falkirk	Central
Fermanagh	GB.FE	FER	UKS2	UKN05	ds	57,527	54,033	1,700	656	Enniskillen	Fermanagh
Fife	GB.FI	FIF	UKV1	UKM22	ud	349,429	341,199	1,323	511	Glenrothes	Fife
Flintshire	GB.FL	FLN	UKY1	UKL23	uaw	148,594	141,344	437	169	Mold	Flint
Gateshead	GB.GH	GAT	UKE5	UKC22	mb	191,151	199,588	143	55	Gateshead	Tyne and Wear
Glasgow	GB.GG	GLG	UKV2	UKM34	udc	577,869	606,655	175	68	Glasgow	Strathclyde
Gloucestershire	GB.GC	GLS	UKE6	UKK13	ac	564,559	528,370	2,654	1,025	Gloucester	Gloucestershire
Greater London	GB.GL			UKI	reg	7,172,091	6,679,945	1,583	609	London	Greater London
Gwynedd	GB.GD	GWN	UKY2	UKL12	uaw	116,843	113,331	2,548	984	Caernarfon	Caernarvon, Denbigh, Merioneth
Halton	GB.HL	HAL	UKE9	UKD21	ua	118,208	123,716	74	29	Widnes	Cheshire
Hampshire	GB.HA	HAM	UKF2	UKJ33	ac	1,240,103	1,168,004	3,688	1,424	Winchester	Hampshire
Hartlepool	GB.HP	HPL	UKF5	UKC11	ua	88,611	90,409	94	36	Hartlepool	Durham
Herefordshire	GB.HE	HEF	UKF7	UKG11	uac	174,871	159,850	1,858	717	Hereford	Herefordshire
Hertfordshire	GB.HT	HRT	UKF8	UKH23	ac	1,033,977	977,510	1,638	632	Hertford	Hertfordshire
Highland	GB.HI	HLD	UKV3	UKM4	ud	208,914	204,004	25,784	9,955	Inverness	Highland
Inverclyde	GB.IC	IVC	UKV4	UKM35	ud	84,203	90,103	162	63	Greenock	Strathclyde
Isle of Wight	GB.IW	IOW	UKG2	UKJ34	ua	132,731	124,577	380	147	Newport	Isle of Wight
Isles of Scilly	GB.IS	IOS		UKK30	ua	2,152		15	6	Hugh Town	Cornwall
Kent	GB.KE	KEN	UKG5	UKJ42	ac	1,329,718	1,268,645	3,543	1,368	Maidstone	Kent
Kingston upon Hull	GB.KH	KHL	UKG6	UKE11	cua	243,589	254,117	71	27	Kingston-upon-Hull	East Riding of Yorkshire
Kirklees	GB.KK	KIR	UKG8	UKE43	mb	388,567	372,730	410	158	Huddersfield	West Yorkshire
Knowsley	GB.KN	KWL	UKG9	UKD51	mb	150,459	151,941	97	37	Huyton	Merseyside
Lancashire	GB.LA	LAN	UKH2	UKD43	ac	1,134,976	1,101,317	2,897	1,119	Preston	Lancashire
Larne	GB.LR	LRN	UKS3	UKN03	ds	30,832	29,419	337	130	Larne	Antrim
Leeds	GB.LS	LDS	UKH3	UKE42	cmb	715,402	681,319	562	217	Leeds	West Yorkshire
Leicester	GB.LC	LCE	UKH4	UKF21	cua	279,921	270,493	73	28	Leicester	Leicestershire
Leicestershire	GB.LE	LEC	UKH5	UKF22	ac	609,578	565,539	2,083	804	Leicester	Leicestershire
Limavady	GB.LM	LMV	UKS4	UKN04	ds	32,422	29,567	585	226	Limavady	Londonderry
Lincolnshire	GB.LI	LIN	UKH7	UKF30	ac	646,645	584,536	5,921	2,286	Lincoln	Lincolnshire
Lisburn	GB.LB	LSB	UKS5	UKN02	ds	108,694	99,458	436	168	Lisburn	Antrim, Down
Liverpool	GB.LV	LIV	UKH8	UKD52	cmb	439,473	452,450	113	44	Liverpool	Merseyside
Luton	GB.LU	LUT	UKI1	UKH21	ua	184,371	171,671	43	17	Luton	Bedfordshire
Magherafelt	GB.MF	MFT	UKS7	UKN05	ds	39,780	36,293	562	217	Magherafelt	Londonderry
Manchester	GB.MN	MAN	UKI2	UKD31	cmb	392,819	400,491	116	45	Manchester	Greater Manchester
Medway	GB.MW	MDW	UKI3	UKJ41	ua	249,488	240,228	192	74	Strood	Kent
Merthyr Tydfil	GB.MT	MTY	UKY3	UKL15	uaw	55,981	59,317	111	43	Merthyr Tydfil	Brecknock, Glamorgan
Middlesbrough	GB.MB	MDB	UKI5	UKC12	ua	134,855	140,849	54	21	Middlesbrough	North Yorkshire
Midlothian	GB.ML	MLN	UKV5	UKM23	ud	80,941	79,012	356	137	Dalkeith	Lothian
Milton Keynes	GB.MK	MIK	UKI6	UKJ12	ua	207,057	176,330	309	119	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire
Monmouthshire	GB.MM	MON	UKY4	UKL21	uaw	84,885	79,940	851	329	Cwmbran	Monmouth
Moray	GB.MO	MRY	UKV6	UKM	ud	86,940	83,616	2,238	864	Elgin	Grampian
Moyle	GB.MY	MYL	UKS8	UKN04	ds	15,933	14,789	494	191	Ballycastle	Antrim
Neath Port Talbot	GB.NP	NTL	UKY5	UKL17	uaw	134,468	138,238	441	170	Port Talbot	Glamorgan
Newcastle upon Tyne	GB.NU	NET	UKI7	UKC22	cmb	259,536	259,541	112	43	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Tyne and Wear
Newport	GB.NO	NWP	UKY6	UKL21	uaw	137,011	133,318	191	74	Newport	Monmouth
Newry and Mourne	GB.NM	NYM	UKS9	UKN05	ds	87,058	80,646	886	342	Newry	Armagh, Down
Newtownabbey	GB.NW	NTA	UKT1	UKN02	ds	79,995	74,035	151	58	Newtownabbey	Antrim
Norfolk	GB.NF	NFK	UKI9	UKH13	ac	796,728	745,613	5,372	2,074	Norwich	Norfolk
Northamptonshire	GB.NA	NTH	UKJ1	UKF23	ac	629,676	578,807	2,367	914	Northampton	Northamptonshire
North Ayrshire	GB.NR	NAY	UKV7	UKM33	ud	135,817	136,875	884	341	Irvine	Strathclyde
North Down	GB.ND	NDN	UKT2	UKN02	ds	76,323	71,832	72	28	Bangor	Down
North East Lincolnshire	GB.NE	NEL	UKJ2	UKE13	ua	157,979	159,662	192	74	Grimsby	Lincolnshire
North Lanarkshire	GB.NN	NLK	UKV8	UKM36	ud	321,067	323,821	474	183	Motherwell	Strathclyde
North Lincolnshire	GB.NL	NLN	UKJ3	UKE13	ua	152,849	152,287	833	322	Scunthorpe	Lincolnshire
North Somerset	GB.NS	NSM	UKJ4	UKK12	ua	188,564	177,472	375	145	Weston-super-Mare	Somerset
North Tyneside	GB.NI	NTY	UKJ5	UKC22	mb	191,659	192,286	84	32	Wallsend	Tyne and Wear
Northumberland	GB.NB	NBL	UKJ6	UKC21	ac	307,188	304,694	5,026	1,941	Morpeth	Northumberland
North Yorkshire	GB.NY	NYK	UKJ7	UKE22	ac	569,660	535,857	8,038	3,103	Northallerton	North Yorkshire
Nottingham	GB.NG	NGM	UKJ8	UKF14	cua	266,988	263,522	75	29	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire	GB.NT	NTT	UKJ9	UKF1	ac	748,510	730,350	2,085	805	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire
Oldham	GB.OL	OLD	UKK1	UKD32	mb	217,273	216,531	141	54	Oldham	Greater Manchester
Omagh	GB.OM	OMH	UKT3	UKN05	ds	47,952	45,809	1,124	434	Omagh	Tyrone
Orkney Islands	GB.OR	ORK	UKV9	UKM45	ia	19,245	19,612	992	383	Kirkwall	Orkney
Oxfordshire	GB.OX	OXF	UKK2	UKJ14	ac	605,488	547,584	2,603	1,005	Oxford	Oxfordshire
Pembrokeshire	GB.PE	PEM	UKY7	UKL14	uaw	114,131	112,085	1,590	614	Haverfordwest	Pembroke
Perthshire and Kinross	GB.PK	PKN	UKW1	UKM27	ud	134,949	126,226	5,311	2,051	Perth	Tayside
Peterborough	GB.PB	PTE	UKK3	UKH11	ua	156,061	152,697	333	129	Peterborough	Cambridgeshire
Plymouth	GB.PM	PLY	UKK4	UKK41	cua	240,720	243,373	80	31	Plymouth	Devon
Poole	GB.PL	POL	UKK5	UKK21	ua	138,288	133,050	65	25	Poole	Dorset
Portsmouth	GB.PS	POR	UKK6	UKJ31	cua	186,701	174,697	40	15	Portsmouth	Hampshire
Powys	GB.PO	POW	UKY8	UKL24	uaw	126,354	119,019	5,204	2,009	Llandrindod Wells	Brecknock, Denbigh, Montgomery, Radnor
Reading	GB.RG	RDG	UKK7	UKJ11	ua	143,096	128,877	40	15	Reading	Berkshire
Redcar and Cleveland	GB.RC	RCC	UKK9	UKC12	ua	139,132	145,123	245	95	South Bank	North Yorkshire
Renfrewshire	GB.RF	RFW	UKW2	UKM35	ud	172,867	173,208	261	101	Paisley	Strathclyde
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	GB.RT	RCT	UKY9	UKL15	uaw	231,946	232,592	424	164	Tonypandy	Brecknock, Glamorgan
Rochdale	GB.RD	RCH	UKL2	UKD32	mb	205,357	202,164	160	62	Rochdale	Greater Manchester
Rotherham	GB.RH	ROT	UKL3	UKE31	mb	248,175	252,168	283	109	Rotherham	South Yorkshire
Rutland	GB.RL	RUT	UKL4	UKF22	ua	34,563	31,489	394	152	Oakham	Rutland
Saint Helens	GB.SZ	SHN	UKN1	UKD51	mb	176,843	179,218	133	51	Saint Helens	Merseyside
Salford	GB.ZF	SLF	UKL5	UKD31	cmb	216,103	222,529	97	37	Manchester	Greater Manchester
Sandwell	GB.ZW	SAW	UKL7	UKG34	mb	282,904	290,091	86	33	Oldbury	West Midlands
Scottish Borders	GB.BO	SCB	UKT9	UKM24	ud	106,764	103,881	4,734	1,828	Newtown Saint Boswells	Borders
Sefton	GB.SE	SFT	UKL8	UKD53	mb	282,958	289,542	153	59	Bootle, Southport	Merseyside
Sheffield	GB.SV	SHF	UKL9	UKE32	cmb	513,234	500,671	367	142	Sheffield	South Yorkshire
Shetland Islands	GB.SH	ZET	UKW3	UKM46	ia	21,988	22,522	1,438	555	Lerwick	Shetland
Shropshire	GB.SP	SHR	UKL6	UKG22	ac	283,173	266,871	3,197	1,234	Shrewsbury	Shropshire
Slough	GB.ZL	SLG	UKM1	UKJ11	ua	119,067	104,231	27	10	Slough	Berkshire
Solihull	GB.SI	SOL	UKM2	UKG32	mb	199,517	200,329	179	69	Solihull	West Midlands
Somerset	GB.SM	SOM	UKM3	UKK23	ac	498,093	460,368	3,451	1,332	Taunton	Somerset
Southampton	GB.ZH	STH	UKM4	UKJ32	cua	217,445	196,864	50	19	Southampton	Hampshire
South Ayrshire	GB.SA	SAY	UKW4	UKM37	ud	112,097	112,658	1,202	464	Ayr	Strathclyde
Southend-on-Sea	GB.SS	SOS	UKM5	UKH31	ua	160,257	158,517	42	16	Southend-on-Sea	Essex
South Gloucestershire	GB.SJ	SGC	UKM6	UKK12	ua	245,641	220,364	497	192	Thornbury	Gloucestershire
South Lanarkshire	GB.SL	SLK	UKW5	UKM38	ud	302,216	300,143	1,771	684	Hamilton	Strathclyde
South Tyneside	GB.SX	STY	UKM7	UKC22	mb	152,785	154,697	64	25	South Shields	Tyne and Wear
Staffordshire	GB.ST	STS	UKM9	UKG24	ac	806,744	784,647	2,623	1,013	Stafford	Staffordshire
Stirling	GB.ZG	STG	UKW6	UKM27	ud	86,212	78,833	2,196	848	Stirling	Central
Stockport	GB.SK	SKP	UKN2	UKD31	mb	284,528	286,531	126	49	Stockport	Greater Manchester
Stockton-on-Tees	GB.ZT	STT	UKN3	UKC11	ua	178,408	173,912	204	79	Stockton-on-Tees	Durham
Stoke-on-Trent	GB.SO	STE	UKN4	UKG23	cua	240,636	244,637	93	36	Stoke-on-Trent	Staffordshire
Strabane	GB.SB	STB	UKT4	UKN04	ds	38,248	36,141	861	332	Strabane	Tyrone
Suffolk	GB.SF	SFK	UKN5	UKH14	ac	668,553	636,266	3,801	1,468	Ipswich	Suffolk
Sunderland	GB.SD	SND	UKN6	UKC23	cmb	280,807	290,105	138	53	Sunderland	Tyne and Wear
Surrey	GB.SR	SRY	UKN7	UKJ23	ac	1,059,015	1,014,349	1,670	645	Kingston upon Thames	Surrey
Swansea	GB.SW	SWA	UKZ1	UKL18	uaw	223,301	223190	378	146	Swansea	Glamorgan
Swindon	GB.SN	SWD	UKN9	UKK14	ua	180,051	170,850	230	89	Swindon	Wiltshire
Tameside	GB.TM	TAM	UKO1	UKD31	mb	213,043	216,431	103	40	Ashton-under-Lyne	Greater Manchester
Telford and Wrekin	GB.TK	TFW	UKO2	UKG21	ua	158,325	139,516	290	112	Telford	Shropshire
Thurrock	GB.TR	THR	UKO3	UKH32	ua	143,128	127,819	164	63	Grays	Essex
Torbay	GB.TB	TOB	UKO4	UKK42	ua	129,706	119,674	63	24	Torquay	Devon
Torfaen	GB.TF	TOF	UKZ2	UKL16	uaw	90,949	90,527	126	49	Pontypool	Monmouth
Trafford	GB.TD	TRF	UKO6	UKD31	mb	210,145	214,437	106	41	Stretford	Greater Manchester
Vale of Glamorgan	GB.VG	VGL	UKZ3	UKL22	uaw	119,292	118,039	337	130	Barry	Glamorgan
Wakefield	GB.WK	WKF	UKO7	UKE43	cmb	315,172	310,709	333	129	Wakefield	West Yorkshire
Walsall	GB.WZ	WLL	UKO8	UKG35	mb	253,499	259,488	106	41	Walsall	West Midlands
Warrington	GB.WT	WRT	UKP2	UKD21	ua	191,080	182,685	176	68	Warrington	Cheshire
Warwickshire	GB.WR	WAR	UKP3	UKG13	ac	505,859	484,247	1,978	764	Warwick	Warwickshire
West Berkshire	GB.WB	WBK	UKP4	UKJ11	ua	144,483	136,700	704	272	Newbury	Berkshire
West Dunbartonshire	GB.WD	WDU	UKW7	UKM31	ud	93,378	95,984	162	63	Dumbarton	Strathclyde
West Lothian	GB.WH	WLN	UKW9	UKM28	ud	158,714	143,971	425	164	Livingston	Lothian
West Sussex	GB.WS	WSX	UKP6	UKJ24	ac	753,614	703,553	1,988	768	Chichester	West Sussex
Wigan	GB.WN	WGN	UKP7	UKD32	mb	301,415	304,001	199	77	Wigan	Greater Manchester
Wiltshire	GB.WL	WIL	UKP8	UKK15	ac	432,973	395,390	3,246	1,253	Trowbridge	Wiltshire
Windsor and Maidenhead	GB.WA	WNM	UKP9	UKJ11	ua	133,626	132,465	198	76	Maidenhead	Berkshire
Wirral	GB.WQ	WRL	UKQ1	UKD54	mb	312,293	330,795	159	61	Wallasey	Merseyside
Wokingham	GB.WO	WOK	UKQ2	UKJ11	ua	150,229	139,189	179	69	Wokingham	Berkshire
Wolverhampton	GB.WV	WLV	UKQ3	UKG35	mb	236,582	243,586	69	27	Wolverhampton	West Midlands
Worcestershire	GB.WC	WOR	UKQ4	UKG12	ac	542,107	507,500	2,065	797	Worcester	Worcestershire
Wrexham	GB.WX	WRX	UKZ4	UKL23	uaw	128,476	121,296	499	193	Wrexham	Denbigh, Flint
York	GB.YK	YOR	UKQ5	UKE21	cua	181,094	166,304	271	105	York	North Yorkshire
198 divisions						59,012,502	56,682,289	243,602	94,051
Name: Short name of division. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "GB-" to the code (ex: GB-WRL represents Wirral). The source for the three-letter codes is a British Standard named "BS 6879: Codes for the representation of names of counties and similar areas". This standard includes two- and three-letter and four-digit codes for each current county name, and a three-letter code for each historic county name. The codes in this document stand for names, not areas. For example, Warwickshire has one code of each type (WK, WAR, 3700), even though its area was substantially different before the 1974 local government reform. On the other hand, there are different codes for Western Isles (WIS) and Eilean Siar (ELS), which is just a change of name. The three-letter codes are based on the older Chapman County Codes, devised by genealogist Colin R. Chapman. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. FIPS probably intends Isles of Scilly to be considered part of Cornwall. NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics level-three codes, with some exceptions, as described above. First three characters indicate the NUTS-1 region, as shown below (1). Type: Type of division. For codes, see next table. Pop-2001: Population according to the 2001-04-29 census. Source: National Statistics Website. Pop-1991: Population according to the University of Leeds study cited above. Figures represent the census of 1991-04-21, adjusted for the reorganization of 1995-1998. Area and population for Isles of Scilly are included in Cornwall. National Statistics  says, "The Isles of Scilly, which are separately administered by an Isles of Scilly Council, do not form part of the county of Cornwall but are usually associated with the county." Area: Data contributed by Karem Abdalla. Capital: Site of the administrative headquarters of the subdivision. When blank, usually the subdivision only contains one town. The concept of capital is rather hazy in the United Kingdom. Ceredigion county council has offices in both Aberaeron and Aberystwyth. Argyll and Bute has offices in Kilmory Castle in Lochgilphead, and its capital is sometimes cited as Kilmory, sometimes Lochgilphead. Old County: For administrative counties and unitary authorities in England, this is the ceremonial county (pre-1974, except Cumbria). For Greater London and metropolitan boroughs, it is the metropolitan county (1974-1995). For Wales, it is the shire county (pre-1974); for Scotland, the region (1975-1996); for Northern Ireland, the county (pre-1973).

 

Code	Type	Country	Quantity
ac	Administrative county	England	34
reg	Region	England	1
mb	Metropolitan borough	England	25
cmb	Metropolitan borough (city)	England	11
ua	Unitary authority	England	36
cua	Unitary authority (city)	England	10
uac	Unitary authority (county)	England	1
uaw	Unitary authority (Wales)	Wales	22
ud	Unitary district	Scotland	25
udc	Unitary district (city)	Scotland	4
ia	Island area	Scotland	3
ds	District	Northern Ireland	26

Postal codes: 

The United Kingdom uses a very complex system of postal codes. They don't correlate well with the administrative divisions. Each postal code is five to seven characters, with a space before the last three characters. The possible configurations are "an naa", "ann naa", "aan naa", "aann naa", "ana naa", and "aana naa", where each 'a' represents a letter and each 'n' a digit. See this Universal Postal Union  page for more details.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of the United Kingdom page.

The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. I will call these four major parts of the United Kingdom "countries", which is consistent with common British usage. They have various and complex status. Each of these four divisions has a different history of subdivision, which is examined under Change history below.

The United Kingdom defined Standard Statistical Regions (SSRs) in 1965, and modified them slightly when county boundaries were redrawn in 1974. Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Community, used these divisions when setting up its own statistical regions for Europe. Three of them match the historical countries that form the United Kingdom; eight others are subdivisions of England. Note: In 1994-04, Government Offices for the Regions (GORs) were established, based on a division of England into ten regions (now nine) which don't always match the SSRs. Here is a PDF Map  of current GORs.

Note 1. These are the new NUTS level-one statistical regions of the United Kingdom. In England, they coincide with Government Office Regions. GOR codes (or, in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, "pseudo-GOR" codes) have been assigned to each of them.

Description	NUTS	GOR
North East	UKC	A
North West	UKD	B
Yorkshire and the Humber	UKE	D
East Midlands	UKF	E
West Midlands	UKG	F
East of England	UKH	G
London	UKI	H
South East	UKJ	J
South West	UKK	K
Wales	UKL	W
Scotland	UKM	X
Northern Ireland	UKN	Y

 

On the secondary level, some counties are subdivided into districts. Other areas have unitary government, meaning that the primary subdivision carries out the functions of a secondary subdivision as well.

Territorial extent: 

Except for the "islands areas", all divisions of England, Scotland, and Wales lie mostly on the island of Great Britain; all divisions of Northern Ireland lie mostly on the island of Ireland.

1. Ards includes Copeland Island.
2. Central includes some of the islands in Loch Lomond: Inchcailloan, Inchcruin, Inchfad, etc.
3. Cornwall includes the Isles of Scilly (Sorlings).
4. Cumbria includes the Isle of Walney.
5. Dyfed includes Skomer, Ramsey, Skokholm, and Caldy Islands.
6. Essex includes Foulness Island, Mersea Island, and other coastal islands.
7. Fife includes Inchkeith and the Isle of May.
8. Gwynedd includes Anglesey, Holy, and Bardsey Islands.
9. Highland includes the islands of Skye, Rhum, Raasay, Scalpay, Eigg, Soay, Rona, Muck, Canna, Sanday, Ewe, and Handa. It also includes Stroma, just off John o' Groats House.
10. Isle of Wight consists of an island off the south coast of Britain.
11. Kent includes the Isle of Sheppey and islands in the mouth of the River Medway.
12. Mid Glamorgan includes Tusker Rock in the Bristol Channel.
13. Moyle includes Rathlin Island.
14. Northumberland includes Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and the Farne Islands.
15. Orkney includes the islands of Orkney Mainland (Pomona), Hoy, Westray, Rousay, Sanday, South Ronaldsay, Stronsay, Eday, Shapinsay, North Ronaldsay, Papa Westray, Flotta, and numerous others.
16. Shetland includes the islands of Shetland Mainland, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Foula, Bressay, Fair Isle, Whalsay, Muckle Roe, Papa Stour, the Out Skerries, and many other small islands. Muckle Flugga is said to be the northernmost of the British Isles.
17. Strathclyde includes the islands of Mull, Islay, Jura, Arran, Bute, Coll, Tiree, Colonsay, Lismore, Ulva, Scarba, Kerrera, Luing, Iona, Oronsay, Gigha, Great and Little Cumbrae, and Sanda. It also includes some of the islands in Loch Lomond: Inchlonaig, Inchmurrin, Inchconnachan, etc.
18. Western Isles consists of the island group known as the Outer Hebrides. (The Inner Hebrides are in Highland and Strathclyde.) It includes the island of Lewis and Harris, a single island with two names. Formerly Lewis and Harris was divided between the counties of Inverness and Ross & Cromarty. The part in Inverness was Harris, and the rest was Lewis. Western Isles also includes the islands of South Uist, North Uist, Barra, Benbecula, Great Bernera, Pabbay, Eriskay, Vatersay, Mingulay, Berneray, Taransay, Scarp, Scalpay, and the Shiant Islands. Farther from the mainland are Saint Kilda, Boreray, Flannan, Rockall, and North Rona.
19. Prior to 1974, several counties had exclaves. The most noticeable were an exclave of Flintshire lying amid Cheshire, Denbighshire, and Shropshire, and part of Dunbarton between Lanark and Stirling.

Origins of names: 

Includes some names of former divisions.

1. The suffix -shire comes from Old English sciran: to cut.
2. Channel Islands: descriptive: islands in the English Channel
3. England: Land of the Angles (people from Angeln in Germany)
4. Northern Ireland: northern part of the island of Ireland (see the country entry for Ireland)
5. Wales: Germanic walho: stranger
6. Anglesey: Isle of the Angles (ethnic name).
7. Armagh: Old Irish ard magh: high plain
8. Avon: from river name, from Celtic word for river
9. Ayr: from river name, which probably came from Indo-European root ar-: water
10. Barking and Dagenham: Berica (personal name) + -ing (ethnic suffix) + Dæcca (personal name) + ham: farm.
11. Barnet: Old English bærnet: land cleared by burning.
12. Barnsley: Beorn (personal name) + Old English leah: clearing.
13. Bath: Roman baths were located there.
14. Bedford: Beda's ford, possibly a man's name
15. Belfast: Irish Beal: opening, Feirste: sandbank, i.e. ford on a sandbank
16. Berkshire: from Celtic bearroc: hilly, applied to a birch forest
17. Bexley: from Old English byxe: box tree + leah: clearing.
18. Borders: on the border between England and Scotland
19. Buckingham: Old English: from Bucca (personal name) + -ing (ethnic suffix) + ham (farm)
20. Cambridge: Norman French Cantebruge: bridge over the Cante (Cam) River; Cam is from Celtic for winding
21. Carrickfergus: Gaelic carraig Fhearghasa: rock of Fergus
22. Cheshire: shire of Chester, from Latin castra: camp
23. Cleveland: the cliff land
24. Cornwall: from ethnic name Cornovii + Anglo-Saxon walh: foreigner; Cornovii comes from Latin cornu: horn
25. Cumberland: from Welsh cymry, meaning Welshmen, + land.
26. Cumbria: from Welsh cymry: Welsh
27. Derby: from Old Norwegian diur: stag, by: village
28. Devon: Medieval Latin Dumnonia, from ethnic name Dumnonii
29. Dorset: Abbreviation of Medieval Latin Durnovaria: Dorchester + sæton: colonist
30. Down: Irish dun: fort
31. Dumfries: possibly Gaelic dum fres: fort of the Frisians
32. Durham: Old English dun: hill, holmr: island
33. Ely, Isle of: from Old English æl: eel, a region where eels were found. Called an isle because the city Ely is on dry ground surrounded by swamp land.
34. Essex: Old English for Eastern Saxons
35. Glamorgan: Welsh glanna Morgan: Morgan's shore
36. Gloucester: Latin glevum, from Brittonic glouiu: bright place + castra: fort
37. Gwent: from Welsh gwen: smile
38. Gwynedd: after Cunedda, sixth-century king of northern Wales
39. Hampshire: Old English hamm: water meadow + tun: farm + scir: county
40. Hereford: Old English here: army, ford: ford (i.e. the army's ford)
41. Hertfordshire: Old English heorot: hart, ford: ford, scir: county
42. Humberside: land beside the River Humber.
43. Huntingdonshire: shire of Huntingdon, from Old English hunta: hunter + dun: hill.
44. Kent: Latin Cantium, possibly from Celtic canto: edge; caint: open country; or kant: rock (referring to the cliffs along the shore)
45. Lancashire: shire of Lancaster, from Celtic lune: pure (river) + Latin castra: camp.
46. Leicester: Leire + Latin castra: fort (fort on the River Leire)
47. Lincoln: from Latin Lindum Colonia: colony on Lindum lake; Lindum is from Celtic ilyn: lake + dun: fort
48. London: possibly from man's name Londinos, from Celtic londo-: bold
49. Maidenhead: from Old English mægden: maiden + hyth: landing-place.
50. Manchester: Celtic mam: breast, Latin castra: camp (original settlement near a breast-shaped hill?)
51. Merseyside: land beside the River Mersey, from Old English mærse: boundary river.
52. Norfolk: land of the northern people (north folk)
53. Northampton: from Old English North + ham: farm + tun: town
54. Northumberland: land north of the Humber estuary
55. Nottingham: from Snot (personal name) + -ing (ethnic suffix) + ham: farm
56. Oxford: ford of the oxen
57. Peterborough, Soke of: burgh of St. Peter's (monastery). Soke is from Old English socn: jurisdiction.
58. Salop: a shortened form of Shropshire used by the Norman French.
59. Shropshire: shortened from Shrewsburyshire; Shrewsbury comes from Latin civitas scrobbensis: city of the scrub folk (civitas later translated as burgh)
60. Somerset: from Sumortun (modern Somerton) + sæton: colonist
61. Stafford: from Old English steath: landing place + ford
62. Suffolk: land of the southern people (south folk)
63. Surrey: Old English suthrige: south region (south of the Thames)
64. Sussex: land of the South Saxons
65. Tyne and Wear: land on the Rivers Tyne and Wear. Tyne is a Celtic or pre-Celtic word for river. So is wear.
66. Warwick: Anglo-Saxon war: subsidiary farm + wic: weir
67. West Midlands: western part of the English Midlands, midway between the English Channel and Scotland
68. Western Isles: descriptive
69. Wigan: from a person's name.
70. Wight, Isle of: from Celtic vectis, possibly meaning "dividing place" (Southampton Water divides there to form The Solent and Spithead).
71. Wiltshire: from Wilsætan, West Saxon settlers along the Wylye river; sætan: settlers
72. Windsor: from Old English windels: windlass, winch + ora: riverbank.
73. Wirral: from Old English wir: corner of land + halh: myrtle.
74. Wokingham: Wocca (man's name) + -ing (ethnic suffix) + ham: farm.
75. Wolverhampton: Wulfrun (woman's name) + Old English heah: high + tun: farmstead.
76. Worcester: ethnic name Weogora, possibly from a Celtic river name + Latin castra: camp.
77. York: from Latin Eboracum: estate of Eburos, modified by Angles to Eoforwic (wic: dwelling) and by Danes to Jorvik

Change history: 

The histories of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are discussed individually, in that order.

England:

Prior to 1888, England was divided into 38 counties. (I exclude Monmouthshire, which was sometimes counted with England, and sometimes Wales. The territory of Monmouthshire is contained in the modern Standard Statistical Region of Wales.) They had existed for hundreds of years with little change. Their significance was geographical, historical, and social, but not administrative. The Local Government Act of 1888 created county councils with executive powers. By the same stroke, seven of the counties were split into two or three parts each, corresponding to traditional subdivisions. A new county, London, was formed from parts of Kent, Middlesex, and Surrey. In addition, 57 county boroughs were created. These were administratively on a par with the counties, but consisted of the urban areas of the larger cities. Informal lists of divisions often showed only the counties, implicitly combining each county borough with the geographical county it had come from. The counties were divided into districts of several types: non-county boroughs (cities too small to become county boroughs), urban districts, and rural districts. The rural districts were subdivided into parishes. London county was an exception: it consisted of 28 metropolitan boroughs and one city, the City of London (the historical center of London, about one square mile around Saint Paul's).

As time went by, more cities were split from their counties to become county boroughs, until there were 79 in 1931. Also, the county boroughs annexed adjacent land as the cities grew. The eventual result was that the counties had to provide a constant level of service with a diminishing tax base. This was one of the problems addressed by the 1974 reform.

These were the 47 administrative counties of England between 1900 and 1974.

County	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	Area(km.²)	Capital
Buckinghamshire	197,046	219,551	236,171	271,586	386,291	505,130	586,211	1,940	Aylesbury
Cambridgeshire	120,264	128,322	129,602	140,004	166,887	193,390	302,507	1,275	Cambridge
Isle of Ely	64,495	69,752	73,817	77,698	89,049	89,420		971	March
Cheshire	835,941	954,779	1,020,257	1,087,655	1,258,507	1,392,220	1,542,624	2,628	Chester
Cornwall	322,334	328,098	320,705	317,968	345,442	340,880	379,892	3,513	Truro
Cumberland	266,933	265,746	273,173	263,151	285,338	294,130	292,009	3,938	Carlisle
Derbyshire	599,694	683,423	714,634	757,374	826,437	890,180	884,339	2,604	Matlock
Devonshire	662,196	699,703	709,614	732,968	797,738	825,340	896,245	6,764	Exeter
Dorsetshire	202,063	223,266	224,731	239,352	291,323	319,800	361,213	2,521	Dorchester
Durham	1,187,474	1,369,860	1,479,033	1,486,175	1,463,868	1,530,170	1,408,103	2,628	Durham
Essex	1,083,998	1,350,881	1,470,257	1,755,459	2,044,984	2,324,120	1,353,564	3,957	Chelmsford
Gloucestershire	708,439	736,097	756,574	786,000	939,433	1,013,740	1,069,454	3,257	Gloucester
Hampshire	717,164	862,393	913,681	1,014,316	1,197,170	1,384,030	1,561,605	3,892	Winchester
Isle of Wight	82,418	88,186	94,666	88,454	96,625	93,090	109,284	381	Newport
Herefordshire	114,125	114,269	113,189	111,767	127,159	132,670	138,425	2,181	Hereford
Hertfordshire	258,423	311,284	333,195	401,206	609,775	857,200	922,188	1,637	Hertford
Huntingdonshire	54,125	55,577	54,741	56,206	69,302	85,520	202,337	947	Huntingdon
Peterborough	41,122	44,718	46,959	51,839	63,791	77,400		216	Peterborough
Kent	961,139	1,045,591	1,141,666	1,219,273	1,564,324	1,726,280	1,396,030	3,950	Maidstone
Lancashire	4,378,293	4,767,832	4,932,951	5,039,455	5,117,853	5,160,660	5,106,123	4,864	Preston
Leicestershire	437,490	476,553	494,469	541,861	631,077	691,530	771,213	2,154	Leicester
Holland	77,610	82,849	85,870	92,330	101,555	104,030	105,643	1,084	Boston
Kesteven	103,962	111,324	107,634	110,060	130,717	140,260	232,215	1,876	Sleaford
Lindsey	318,450	369,787	408,698	422,199	473,550	512,210	470,526	3,938	Lincoln
London	4,536,267	4,521,685	4,484,523	4397,003	3,347,982	3,185,770	7,379,014	303	London
Middlesex	792,476	1,126,465	1,253,002	1,638,728	2,269,315	2,239,770		602	London
Norfolk	476,553	499,116	504,293	504,940	548,062	568,420	616,427	5,319	Norwich
Northamptonshire	294,506	303,798	302,404	309,474	359,690	405,870	467,843	2,368	Northampton
Northumberland	603,119	696,893	746,096	756,782	798,424	825,650	794,975	5,228	Newcastle upon Tyne
Nottinghamshire	514,459	604,098	641,149	712,731	841,211	916,520	974,640	2,185	Nottingham
Oxfordshire	186,460	199,269	189,615	209,621	275,808	317,880	380,814	1,939	Oxford
Rutlandshire	19,709	20,346	18,376	17,401	20,537	26,390	27,463	394	Oakham
Shropshire	239,783	246,307	243,062	244,156	289,802	306,150	336,934	3,488	Shrewsbury
Somersetshire	434,950	458,025	465,691	475,142	551,453	609,410	681,974	4,178	Taunton
Staffordshire	1,231,113	1,328,644	1,353,511	1,431,359	1,621,034	1,765,550	1,856,890	2,989	Stafford
East Suffolk	255,800	277,155	291,073	294,977	321,909	353,290	380,524	2,256	Ipswich
West Suffolk	117,553	116,905	108,985	106,137	120,652	135,080	164,201	1,582	Bury Saint Edmunds
Surrey	893,920	1,123,569	930,086	1,180,878	1,602,483	1,744,690	999,588	1,869	Kingston upon Thames
East Sussex	450,979	489,070	532,187	546,864	618,516	673,190	750,312	2,147	Lewes
West Sussex	151,276	176,308	195,810	222,995	318,823	418,470	491,020	1,627	Chichester
Warwickshire	940,879	1,040,409	1,394,741	1,535,007	1,861,670	2,058,950	2,079,799	2,545	Warwick
Westmorland	64,409	63,575	65,746	65,408	67,383	32,550	72,724	2,043	Kendal
Wiltshire	271,394	286,822	291,838	303,373	386,692	439,260	486,048	3,483	Trowbridge
Worcestershire	458,565	545,699	397,910	420,056	522,846	581,270	692,605	1,812	Worcester
East Riding	144,748	154,768	460,880	482,936	510,904	530,170	542,565	3,036	Beverley
North Riding	377,338	419,546	456,436	469,375	525,481	565,080	724,463	5,510	Northallerton
West Riding	2,839,235	3,127,659	3,265,241	3,437,368	3,691,645	3,677,220	3,780,539	7,227	Wakefield
47 counties	30,090,689	33,185,972	34,728,942	36,827,067	40,550,517	43,060,000	44,773,112	127,246

 

There were 38 geographical counties. They were the same as above, except for the seven which were divided into two or more administrative counties: Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Huntingdon and the Soke of Peterborough, Lincolnshire (consisting of the Parts of Holland, Kesteven, and Lindsey), Suffolk (East and West), Sussex (East and West), and Yorkshire (consisting of the East, North, and West Ridings). (Note: the word riding is a corruption of thirding, i.e. a third of the county.)

The following list shows county boroughs according to their geographical counties. Names in parentheses are alternate names or obsolete names. Some of these county boroughs were created or eliminated at some time during the period covered (1900-1974).

Bedfordshire: Luton. Berkshire: Reading. Cheshire: Birkenhead, Chester, Stockport, Wallasey. Cumberland: Carlisle. Derbyshire: Derby. Devonshire: Devonport, Exeter, Plymouth, Torbay. Durham: Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool (West Hartlepool), South Shields, Sunderland. East Suffolk: Ipswich. East Sussex: Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings. Essex: East Ham, Southend (Southend-on-Sea), West Ham. Glamorganshire: Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea. Gloucestershire: Bristol, Gloucester. Hampshire: Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Southampton. Kent: Canterbury. Lancashire: Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Bootle, Burnley, Bury, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Saint Helens, Salford, Southport, Warrington, Wigan. Leicestershire: Leicester. Lindsey: Grimsby, Lincoln. Monmouthshire: Newport. Norfolk: Great Yarmouth (Yarmouth), Norwich. Northamptonshire: Northampton. Northumberland: Newcastle upon Tyne (Newcastle), Tynemouth. Nottinghamshire: Nottingham. Oxfordshire: Oxford. Somerset: Bath. Staffordshire: Burton upon Trent, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton. Surrey: Croydon. Warwickshire: Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull. Worcestershire: Dudley, Smethwick, Warley, Worcester. Yorkshire, East Riding: Kingston upon Hull (Hull). Yorkshire, North Riding: Middlesbrough (Teesside). Yorkshire, West Riding: Barnsley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wakefield, York.

1. ~1958: Capital of Derbyshire moved from Derby to Matlock.
2. 1964: The London Government Act of 1963, effective in 1964, created Greater London. It consisted of the former counties of London and Middlesex, and parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, and Surrey, including the county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham, and West Ham. It was subdivided into 32 boroughs and the City of London. Its governing body was the Greater London Council.
3. 1964-04-01: Luton county borough split from Bedfordshire.
4. 1974-04-01: The Local Government Act of 1972 took effect. County boroughs were eliminated. England was reorganized into 39 counties, six metropolitan counties, and Greater London (which is sometimes numbered with the metropolitan counties). The non-metropolitan counties were subdivided into 332 districts, which were further subdivided into parishes.
5. The following counties were unchanged in territory: Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham, Cornwall, Derby, Devon, Dorset, East Sussex, Essex, Greater London, Hampshire, Hertford, Kent, Norfolk, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Shropshire, Suffolk, Surrey, West Sussex, and Wiltshire. The administrative counties which were contained in counties on this list (Isle of Ely, Isle of Wight, East and West Suffolk) disappeared. Name of Shropshire changed to Salop.
6. The following counties lost part of their territory, and occasionally gained a little, in the formation of new counties: Cambridge, Cheshire, Durham, Gloucester, Lancashire, Lincoln, Northumberland, Somerset, Stafford, and Warwick. In particular, Huntingdon was annexed to Cambridge, and Rutland to Leicester.
7. In addition, Avon was formed from parts of Gloucester and Somerset; Cleveland, from parts of Durham and North Riding; Cumbria, from Cumberland, Westmorland, and parts of Lancashire and West Riding; Greater Manchester, from parts of Cheshire, Lancashire, and West Riding; Hereford and Worcester, from Hereford and most of Worcester; Humberside, from part of Lindsey and most of East Riding; Merseyside, from parts of Cheshire and Lancashire; North Yorkshire, from most of North Riding and parts of East and West Ridings; South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, from parts of West Riding; Tyne and Wear, from parts of Durham and Northumberland; and West Midlands, from parts of Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester.
8. 1974-10: Isle of Wight county split from Hampshire.
9. 1980: Name of Salop county changed back to Shropshire.
10. 1986-03-31: Local Government Act 1985 took effect, abolishing the seven metropolitan county governments (including the Greater London Council).
11. ~1989: Capital of Humberside moved from Kingston upon Hull to Beverley; capital of Northumberland moved from Newcastle upon Tyne (Tyne and Wear) to Morpeth. These were the divisions of England at that time:

County	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	Reg	Typ	Conv	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital
Avon	GB.AV	AVN	UK01	UK61	SW	cn		962,000	1,338	Bristol
Bedfordshire	GB.BD	BDF	UK02	UK51	SE	cn	Beds	534,300	1,235	Bedford
Berkshire	GB.BK	BRK	UK03	UK52	SE	cn	Berks	752,500	1,256	Reading
Buckinghamshire	GB.BU	BKM	UK04	UK52	SE	cn	Bucks	640,200	1,883	Aylesbury
Cambridgeshire	GB.CM	CAM	UK05	UK4	EA	cn	Cambs	669,900	3,409	Cambridge
Cheshire	GB.CH	CHS	UK06	UK81	NW	cn	Ches	966,500	2,328	Chester
Cleveland	GB.CV	CLV	UK07	UK11	NO	cn	Cleve	557,000	583	Middlesbrough
Cornwall	GB.CO	CON	UK08	UK62	SW	cn	Corn	475,200	3,546	Truro
Cumbria	GB.CU	CMA	UK09	UK12	NO	cn	Cumb	489,700	6,810	Carlisle
Derbyshire	GB.DB	DBY	UK10	UK31	EM	cn		939,800	2,631	Matlock
Devon	GB.DV	DVV	UK11	UK62	SW	cn	Dev	1,040,000	6,711	Exeter
Dorset	GB.DS	DOR	UK12	UK63	SW	cn		662,900	2,654	Dorchester
Durham	GB.DH	DUR	UK13	UK11	NO	cn	Dur	604,300	2,436	Durham
East Sussex	GB.ES	ESX	UK14	UK53	SE	cn		716,500	1,795	Lewes
Essex	GB.EX	ESS	UK15	UK54	SE	cn		1,548,000	3,675	Chelmsford
Gloucestershire	GB.GC	GLS	UK16	UK61	SW	cn	Glos	538,800	2,643	Gloucester
Greater London	GB.GL	GTL	UK17	UK55	SE	mc		6,803,100	1,580	London
Greater Manchester	GB.GM	GTM	UK18	UK82	NW	mc		2,561,600	1,287	Manchester
Hampshire	GB.HA	HAM	UK19	UK56	SE	cn	Hants	1,578,700	3,777	Winchester
Hereford and Worcester	GB.HW	HWR	UK20	UK71	WM	cn	H & W	686,000	3,926	Worcester
Hertfordshire	GB.HT	HRT	UK21	UK51	SE	cn	Herts	989,500	1,634	Hertford
Humberside	GB.HS	HUM	UK22	UK21	YH	cn		874,400	3,512	Beverley
Isle of Wight	GB.IW	IOW	UK23	UK56	SE	cn	I o W	126,600	381	Newport
Kent	GB.KE	KEN	UK24	UK57	SE	cn		1,538,800	3,732	Maidstone
Lancashire	GB.LA	LAN	UK25	UK83	NW	cn	Lancs	1,408,000	3,063	Preston
Leicestershire	GB.LE	LEC	UK26	UK32	EM	cn	Leics	890,800	2,553	Leicester
Lincolnshire	GB.LI	LIN	UK27	UK33	EM	cn	Lincs	592,600	5,915	Lincoln
Merseyside	GB.MS	MSY	UK28	UK84	NW	mc		1,441,100	652	Liverpool
Norfolk	GB.NF	NFK	UK29	UK4	EA	cn	Norf	759,400	5,368	Norwich
Northamptonshire	GB.NA	NTH	UK31	UK32	EM	cn	Northants	587,100	2,367	Northampton
Northumberland	GB.NB	NBL	UK32	UK13	NO	cn	Northumb	307,100	5,032	Morpeth
North Yorkshire	GB.NY	NYK	UK30	UK22	YH	cn	N Yorks	720,900	8,316	Northallerton
Nottinghamshire	GB.NT	NTT	UK33	UK31	EM	cn	Notts	1,015,500	2,164	Nottingham
Oxfordshire	GB.OX	OXF	UK34	UK52	SE	cn	Oxon	579,700	2,608	Oxford
Shropshire	GB.SP	SHR	UK35	UK72	WM	cn	Salop	412,500	3,490	Shrewsbury
Somerset	GB.SM	SOM	UK36	UK63	SW	cn	Som	469,400	3,458	Taunton
South Yorkshire	GB.SY	SYK	UK37	UK23	YH	mc	S Yorks	1,292,700	1,560	Barnsley
Staffordshire	GB.ST	STS	UK38	UK72	WM	cn	Staffs	1,047,400	2,716	Stafford
Suffolk	GB.SF	SFK	UK39	UK4	EA	cn	Suff	661,900	3,798	Ipswich
Surrey	GB.SR	SRY	UK40	UK53	SE	cn		1,035,500	1,677	Kingston upon Thames
Tyne and Wear	GB.TW	TWR	UK41	UK13	NO	mc	T & W	1,125,600	540	Newcastle upon Tyne
Warwickshire	GB.WR	WAR	UK42	UK71	WM	cn	Warks	489,900	1,981	Warwick
West Midlands	GB.WM	WMD	UK43	UK73	WM	mc		2,619,000	899	Birmingham
West Sussex	GB.WS	WSX	UK44	UK53	SE	cn		713,600	1,989	Chichester
West Yorkshire	GB.WY	WYK	UK45	UK24	YH	mc	W Yorks	2,066,200	2,039	Wakefield
Wiltshire	GB.WL	WIL	UK46	UK61	SW	cn	Wilts	575,100	3,481	Trowbridge
46 divisions								48,067,300	130,428
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. The first three characters of the NUTS code identify a statistical region of the United Kingdom. Reg: Statistical region, keyed to the regions table under Primary subdivisions. Typ: These divisions are counties (cn) and metropolitan counties (mc). Conv: Conventional abbreviation. Population: 1991-04-21 census

 

Note 2: The conventional abbreviations are usually punctuated with a period after each element except the ampersand (&). Some of them, like Lancs, have been in regular use for hundreds of years and are almost automatic; others, like Warks, are not very firmly established, and admit of variants (e.g. War). In a 1969 guide, the British Post Office said that only 24 counties had postally acceptable abbreviations. Not even all of those are listed here; for example, Co. Durham is the Post Office abbreviation for Durham.

Note 3: the capital of Surrey is in Greater London. The capitals are usually referred to as county towns.

1. ~1992: Another reorganization was proposed. A new concept in this plan was the unitary authority, so called because it would provide all of the services formerly divided between two levels of government, the county and the borough or district. The plan was enacted, and implemented in four annual phases, from 1995 to 1998. The resulting structure is shown in the first table.
2. 1994-04: Ten Government Office Regions (GORs) established in England.
3. 1995-04-01: Isle of Wight changed from county to unitary authority (ua).
4. 1995-07-11: Name of North West Somerset changed to North Somerset.
5. 1996-04-01: Avon county split into Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire ua's; Cleveland county split into Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees ua's; Humberside county split into East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North East Lincolnshire, and North Lincolnshire ua's; York ua split from North Yorkshire county.
6. 1997-04-01: Luton ua split from Bedfordshire county; Milton Keynes ua split from Buckinghamshire county; Derby ua split from Derbyshire county; Bournemouth and Poole ua's split from Dorset county; Darlington ua split from Durham county; Brighton and Hove ua split from East Sussex county; Portsmouth and Southampton ua's split from Hampshire county; Leicester and Rutland ua's split from Leicestershire county; Stoke-on-Trent ua split from Staffordshire county; Swindon ua (formerly Thamesdown) split from Wiltshire county.
7. 1997-05-02: Name of Blackburn changed to Blackburn with Darwen.
8. 1998-04-01: Berkshire county split into Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire (formerly Newbury), Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham ua's; Peterborough ua split from Cambridgeshire county; Halton and Warrington ua's split from Cheshire county; Plymouth and Torbay ua's split from Devon county; Southend and Thurrock ua's split from Essex county; Hereford & Worcester county split into Herefordshire ua and Worcestershire county; Medway ua (formerly Medway Towns) split from Kent county; Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool ua's split from Lancashire county; Nottingham ua split from Nottinghamshire county; Telford and Wrekin ua (formerly The Wrekin) split from Shropshire county.
9. 1998-08: Merseyside GOR merged with North West GOR.
10. 1999-02-01: Name of Eastern GOR changed to East of England GOR.
11. 2000-07-03: Greater London Authority Act 1999 took effect, creating a local government structure for Greater London. Previously, this area had been divided into the following 33 boroughs:

Name	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Barking and Dagenham	GB.BA	BDG	UKA1	UKI21	163,944	34	13
Barnet	GB.BQ	BNE	UKA2	UKI23	314,564	90	35
Bexley	GB.XB	BEX	UKA6	UKI21	218,307	61	23
Brent	GB.BE	BEN	UKB5	UKI23	263,464	44	17
Bromley	GB.BZ	BRY	UKB8	UKI22	295,532	152	59
Camden	GB.CN	CMD	UKC4	UKI11	198,020	22	8
Croydon	GB.CY	CRY	UKC8	UKI22	330,587	87	33
Ealing	GB.EG	EAL	UKD9	UKI23	300,948	56	21
Enfield	GB.EF	ENF	UKE3	UKI21	273,559	81	31
Greenwich	GB.GR	GRE	UKE7	UKI21	214,403	47	18
Hackney	GB.HK	HCK	UKE8	UKI12	202,824	20	8
Hammersmith and Fulham	GB.HF	HMF	UKF1	UKI11	165,242	16	6
Haringey	GB.HY	HRY	UKF3	UKI12	216,507	30	12
Harrow	GB.HR	HRW	UKF4	UKI23	206,814	51	20
Havering	GB.HV	HAV	UKF6	UKI21	224,248	118	45
Hillingdon	GB.HD	HIL	UKF9	UKI23	243,006	110	43
Hounslow	GB.HU	HNS	UKG1	UKI23	212,341	59	23
Islington	GB.IT	ISL	UKG3	UKI12	175,797	15	6
Kensington and Chelsea	GB.KC	KEC	UKG4	UKI11	158,919	12	5
Kingston upon Thames	GB.KT	KTT	UKG7	UKI22	147,273	38	14
Lambeth	GB.LT	LBH	UKH1	UKI12	266,169	27	11
Lewisham	GB.LW	LEW	UKH6	UKI12	248,922	35	13
London	GB.LN	LND	UKH9	UKI11	7,185	3	1
Merton	GB.ME	MRT	UKI4	UKI22	187,908	38	15
Newham	GB.NH	NWM	UKI8	UKI12	243,891	36	14
Redbridge	GB.RB	RDB	UKK8	UKI21	238,635	57	22
Richmond upon Thames	GB.RU	RIC	UKL1	UKI23	172,335	55	21
Southwark	GB.SQ	SWK	UKM8	UKI12	244,866	29	11
Sutton	GB.SU	STN	UKN8	UKI22	179,768	43	17
Tower Hamlets	GB.TH	TWH	UKO5	UKI12	196,106	20	8
Waltham Forest	GB.WF	WFT	UKO9	UKI21	218,341	40	15
Wandsworth	GB.WW	WND	UKP1	UKI11	260,380	35	13
Westminster	GB.WE	WSM	UKP5	UKI11	181,286	22	8
Name: Short name of division. These are all London boroughs. London and Westminster have the more specific status of city London boroughs; Kensington and Chelsea and Kingston upon Thames are royal London boroughs. HASC: Old hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics level-three codes, with some exceptions, as described above. First three characters indicate the NUTS-1 region, as shown below (1). Population: Population according to the 2001-04-29 census.

Wales:

Wales was never a united, independent kingdom. It was conquered gradually by England. The conquest was complete by 1282. The Act of Union of 1536 brought the two countries under one law. Wales was defined as a region by language and class, not by government. Before the Local Government Act of 1888, Wales consisted of thirteen geographical counties (counting Monmouthshire). As in England, the act created county councils for the counties, and split off four cities as county boroughs: Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, and Swansea from Glamorganshire, and Newport from Monmouthshire.

County	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	Area(km.²)	Capital
Anglesey	50,590	50,928	51,744	49,029	50,660	51,430	59,705	715	Llangefni
Brecknockshire	59,906	59,287	61,222	57,775	56,508	54,460	53,234	1,899	Brecon
Caernarvonshire	126,385	125,043	128,183	120,829	124,140	120,460	122,852	1,473	Caernarvon
Cardiganshire	60,237	59,879	60,881	55,184	53,278	53,390	54,844	1,794	Aberystwyth
Carmarthenshire	135,325	160,406	175,073	179,100	172,034	167,110	162,313	2,381	Carmarthen
Denbighshire	129,935	144,783	157,634	157,648	170,726	174,180	184,824	1,732	Ruthin
Flintshire	81,727	92,705	106,617	112,889	145,297	150,430	175,396	663	Mold
Glamorganshire	860,022	1,120,910	1,252,481	1,225,717	1,202,581	1,236,980	1,255,374	2,117	Cardiff
Merionethshire	49,130	45,565	45,087	43,201	41,465	38,360	35,277	1,709	Dolgellau
Monmouthshire	292,327	395,719	450,794	434,958	425,115	449,370	461,459	1,403	Newport
Montgomeryshire	54,892	53,146	51,263	48,473	45,990	43,690	42,761	2,064	Welshpool
Pembrokeshire	88,749	89,960	91,978	87,206	90,906	93,050	97,295	1,590	Haverfordwest
Radnorshire	23,263	22,590	23,517	21,323	19,993	18,430	18,262	1,219	Llandrindod Wells
13 counties	2,012,488	2,420,921	2,656,474	2,593,332	2,598,693	2,651,340	2,723,596	20,759

 

1974: The Local Government Act of 1972, mentioned above, created eight counties, subdivided into 37 districts and further into parishes. These are the new counties.

County	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	Conv	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital	Former
Clwyd	GB.CD	CWD	UK90	UK91		413,800	2,426	Mold	Flint, Denbigh (most), Merioneth (part)
Dyfed	GB.DF	DFD	UK91	UK91		350,900	5,766	Carmarthen	Cardigan, Carmarthen, Pembroke
Gwent	GB.GW	GNT	UK92	UK92		446,900	1,376	Cwmbran	Monmouth
Gwynedd	GB.GD	GWN	UK93	UK91	Gwyn	240,100	3,869	Caernarvon	Anglesey, Caernarvon, Denbigh (part), Merioneth (most)
Mid Glamorgan	GB.MG	MGM	UK94	UK92	M Glam	541,600	1,018	Cardiff	Glamorgan (part), Brecknock (part)
Powys	GB.PO	POW	UK95	UK91		118,700	5,076	Llandrindod Wells	Montgomery, Radnor, Brecknock (most)
South Glamorgan	GB.SG	SGM	UK96	UK92	S Glam	405,900	416	Cardiff	Glamorgan (part)
West Glamorgan	GB.WG	WGM	UK97	UK92	W Glam	368,700	816	Swansea	Glamorgan (part)
8 counties						2,886,600	20,763
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Conv: Conventional abbreviation. Population: 1991-04-21 census Former: Old counties corresponding to each new county.

 

Note: the capital of Mid Glamorgan is in South Glamorgan county.

1. ~1989: Capital of Gwent moved from Newport to Cwmbran.
2. 1996-04-01: Wales reorganized into 22 unitary authorities. District councils abolished. The new unitary authorities created from each of the counties are listed here. Seven pre-1974 county names reappeared on the map, but only four of them had the same extent as before: Anglesey, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Pembroke.

Unitary authority	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital	Former
Aberconwy and Colwyn	110,700	1,130	Colwyn Bay	Clwyd, Gwynedd
Anglesey	68,500	719	Llangefni	Gwynedd
Blaenau Gwent	73,300	109	Ebbw Vale	Gwent
Bridgend	130,900	246	Bridgend	Mid Glamorgan
Caerphilly	171,000	279	Hengoed	Gwent, Mid Glamorgan
Cardiff	306,600	139	Cardiff	South Glamorgan
Cardiganshire	69,700	1,797	Aberaeron	Dyfed
Carmarthenshire	169,000	2,398	Carmarthen	Dyfed
Denbighshire	91,300	844	Ruthin	Clwyd
Flintshire	145,300	437	Mold	Clwyd
Gwynedd	117,000	2,548	Caernarvon	Gwynedd
Merthyr Tydfil	59,500	111	Merthyr Tydfil	Mid Glamorgan
Monmouthshire	84,200	851	Cwmbran	Gwent
Neath Port Talbot	140,100	441	Port Talbot	West Glamorgan
Newport	137,400	191	Newport	Gwent
Pembrokeshire	113,600	1,590	Haverfordwest	Dyfed
Powys	121,800	5,204	Llandrindod Wells	Powys, Clwyd
Rhondda Cynon Taff	239,000	424	Cardiff	Mid Glamorgan
Swansea	230,900	378	Swansea	West Glamorgan
Torfaen	90,600	126	Pontypool	Gwent
Vale of Glamorgan	119,200	337	Barry	Mid and South Glamorgan
Wrexham	123,500	499	Wrexham	Clwyd
22 u.a.s	2,913,100	20,798
Population: 1993 estimate Former: county or counties from which this unitary authority was formed.

 

Note: Two unitary authorities have capitals which are outside of their territory: Monmouthshire (Cwmbran is in Torfaen) and Rhondda Cynon Taff (Cardiff is in Cardiff).

1. 1996-04-02: Name of Aberconwy and Colwyn changed to Conwy; name of Anglesey changed to Isle of Anglesey; name of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire changed to Gwynedd; name of Cardiganshire changed to Ceredigion; name of Neath and Port Talbot changed to Neath Port Talbot.

Scotland:

Scotland was united with England by the Act of Union of 1707, constituting Great Britain. The Local Government Act of 1889 created county councils, as had been done in England and Wales in 1888. Underneath was a complex structure of burghs and parishes. The Local Government Act of 1929 brought Scotland more into line with England and Wales by abolishing parish councils and creating four burghs (also called counties of a city), analogous to county boroughs. The burghs were Aberdeen (in the geographical county of Aberdeen), Dundee (Angus county), Edinburgh (Midlothian), and Glasgow (Lanark).

County	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	Area(km.²)	Capital	Subsequent
Aberdeen	303,889	312,177	301,016	300,436	308,008	321,783	324,574	5,105	Aberdeen	Grampian
Angus	283,729	281,417	271,052	270,190	274,876	278,399	281,131	2,262	Forfar	Tayside
Argyll	73,166	70,902	76,862	63,050	63,361	59,390	59,926	8,092	Lochgilphead	Strathclyde, Highland
Ayr	254,133	268,337	299,273	285,217	321,237	342,822	369,636	2,932	Ayr	Strathclyde
Banff	61,439	61,402	57,298	54,907	50,148	46,454	43,767	1,631	Banff	Grampian
Berwick	30,785	29,643	28,246	26,612	25,068	22,437	21,224	1,184	Duns	Borders
Bute	18,659	18,186	33,771	18,823	19,283	15,170	12,743	565	Rothesay	Strathclyde
Caithness	33,619	32,010	28,285	25,656	22,710	27,370	27,901	1,776	Wick	Highland
Clackmannan	31,991	31,121	32,542	31,948	37,532	41,394	46,611	141	Alloa	Central
Dumfries	72,562	72,825	75,370	81,047	85,660	88,440	88,540	2,777	Dumfries	Dumfries and Galloway
Dunbarton	113,660	139,831	150,861	147,744	164,269	184,559	244,354	637	Dumbarton	Strathclyde
East Lothian	38,653	43,254	47,487	47,338	52,258	52,677	56,966	692	Haddington	Lothian
Fife	218,350	267,739	292,925	276,368	306,778	320,692	337,690	1,307	Cupar	Fife
Inverness	89,901	87,272	82,455	82,108	84,930	83,480	91,698	10,907	Inverness	Highland, Western Isles
Kincardine	40,891	41,008	41,779	39,865	47,403	48,810	27,188	989	Stonehaven	Grampian
Kinross	6,980	7,527	7,963	7,454	7,418	6,702	7,090	212	Kinross	Tayside
Kirkcudbright	39,359	38,367	37,155	30,341	30,725	28,870	27,761	2,330	Kirkcudbright	Dumfries and Galloway
Lanark	1,337,848	1,447,034	1,539,442	1,586,047	1,614,363	1,626,424	1,456,151	2,278	Glasgow	Strathclyde
Midlothian	437,553	507,666	506,377	526,296	565,735	580,329	603,615	948	Edinburgh	Lothian, Borders
Moray	44,757	43,427	41,558	40,806	48,218	49,170	54,833	1,234	Elgin	Grampian, Highland
Nairn	9,291	9,319	8,790	8,294	8,719	8,423	8,906	422	Nairn	Highland
Orkney	27,723	25,897	24,111	22,077	21,255	18,747	17,462	975	Kirkwall	Orkney
Peebles	15,066	15,258	15,332	15,051	15,232	14,156	13,584	899	Peebles	Borders
Perth	123,255	124,342	125,503	120,793	128,029	127,056	128,692	6,458	Perth	Tayside, Central
Renfrew	268,418	314,552	298,904	288,586	324,660	338,872	366,485	621	Paisley	Strathclyde
Ross & Cromarty	76,149	77,364	70,818	62,799	60,508	57,642	61,464	8,002	Dingwall	Highland, Western Isles
Roxburgh	48,793	47,192	44,989	45,788	45,557	43,183	42,255	1,724	Newtown St Boswells	Borders
Selkirk	23,339	24,601	22,607	22,608	21,729	21,052	20,743	691	Selkirk	Borders
Shetland	27,755	27,911	25,520	16,114	19,352	17,812	18,445	1,426	Lerwick	Shetland
Stirling	141,894	160,991	161,719	166,447	187,527	194,878	211,994	1,169	Stirling	Central, Strathclyde
Sutherland	21,389	20,179	17,802	16,101	13,670	13,507	12,728	5,252	Golspie	Highland
West Lothian	64,787	80,155	83,962	81,431	88,577	92,768	112,833	311	Linlithgow	Lothian, Central
Wigtown	32,591	31,998	30,783	29,331	31,620	29,124	27,410	1,263	Stranraer	Dumfries and Galloway
33 counties	4,412,374	4,760,904	4,882,557	4,837,673	5,096,415	5,202,592	5,226,400	77,212
Subsequent: regions or island areas formed from this county in 1975. Largest portion listed first.

 

Note: The following counties had alternate names: Angus (Forfar), Dunbarton (Dumbarton), East Lothian (Haddington), Midlothian (Edinburgh), Moray (Elgin), Shetland (Zetland), and West Lothian (Linlithgow). In most cases, the alternate names continued in occasional use long after they had been officially replaced.

1975-05-16: Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973 became effective, replacing the counties and burghs with nine regions and three island areas. The regions were further subdivided into 53 districts. Each region, island area, and district had its own council. These are the new regions and island areas.

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	NUTS	Conv	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital
Borders	GB.BO	BOR	UK78	UKA1		103,881	4,672	Newtown Saint Boswells
Central	GB.CE	CEN	UK79	UKA1		268,000	2,631	Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway	GB.DG	DGY	UK80	UKA2	D & G	147,100	6,370	Dumfries
Fife	GB.FI	FIF	UK81	UKA1		339,300	1,307	Cupar
Grampian	GB.GP	GMP	UK82	UKA4		493,200	8,704	Aberdeen
Highland	GB.HI	HLD	UK83	UKA3		209,400	25,391	Inverness
Lothian	GB.LO	LTN	UK84	UKA1	Loth	723,700	1,721	Edinburgh
Orkney	GB.OR	ORK	UK85	UKA3		19,300	976	Kirkwall
Shetland	GB.SH	ZET	UK86	UKA3	Shet	22,400	1,433	Lerwick
Strathclyde	GB.SC	STD	UK87	UKA2		2,218,200	13,537	Glasgow
Tayside	GB.TA	TAY	UK88	UKA1		385,300	7,493	Dundee
Western Isles	GB.WI	WIS	UK89	UKA3		31,000	2,898	Stornoway
12 divisions						4,960,781	77,133
Region: except Orkney, Shetland, and Western Isles, which are island areas. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Conv: Conventional abbreviation. Population: 1991-04-21 census

1. ~1989: Capital of Fife moved from Cupar to Glenrothes.
2. 1996-04-01: Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act of 1994 took effect. Scotland reorganized into the 29 unitary districts and three island areas (ia) shown here, each with a unitary council. The division was made mostly, but not entirely, along district boundaries. District councils were abolished. Angus, Clackmannan, East Lothian, Fife, Orkney, and Shetland were restored to essentially the same name and territory that they had before 1975.

Unitary authority	Population	Area(km.²)	Former
Aberdeenshire	223,630	6,318	Grampian (part)
Angus	111,020	2,181	Tayside (part)
Argyll and Bute	90,550	6,930	Strathclyde (part)
City of Aberdeen	218,220	186	Grampian (part)
City of Dundee	153,710	65	Tayside (part)
City of Edinburgh	441,620	262	Lothian (part)
City of Glasgow	623,850	175	Strathclyde (part)
Clackmannan	48,660	157	Central (part)
Dumbarton and Clydebank	97,790	162	Strathclyde (part)
Dumfries and Galloway	147,900	6,439	Dumfries and Galloway
East Ayrshire	123,820	1,252	Strathclyde (part)
East Dunbartonshire	110,220	172	Strathclyde (part)
East Lothian	85,640	678	Lothian (part)
East Renfrewshire	86,780	173	Strathclyde (part)
Falkirk	142,610	299	Central (part)
Fife	351,200	1,323	Fife
Highland	206,900	25,784	Highland
Inverclyde	89,990	162	Strathclyde (part)
Midlothian	79,910	356	Lothian (part)
Moray	86,250	2,238	Grampian (part)
North Ayrshire	139,020	884	Strathclyde (part)
North Lanarkshire	326,750	474	Strathclyde (part)
Orkney Islands (ia)	19,760	992	Orkney
Perthshire and Kinross	130,470	5,311	Tayside (part)
Renfrewshire	176,970	261	Strathclyde (part)
Shetland Islands (ia)	22,830	1,438	Shetland
South Ayrshire	113,960	1,202	Strathclyde (part)
South Lanarkshire	307,100	1,771	Strathclyde (part)
Stirling	81,630	2,196	Central (part)
The Borders	105,300	4,734	Borders
West Lothian	146,730	425	Lothian (part)
Western Isles (ia)	29,410	3,134	Western Isles
32 divisions	5,120,200	78,134
Population: 1993 estimate Former: Regions or island areas from which the unitary authority was formed.

1. 1995-05-03: Name of Clackmannan changed to Clackmannanshire.
2. 1995-05-09: Name of City of Aberdeen changed to Aberdeen City.
3. 1995-06-29: Name of City of Dundee changed to Dundee City.
4. 1995-11-29: Name of Dumbarton and Clydebank changed to West Dunbartonshire.
5. 1995-12-01: Name of Perthshire and Kinross changed to Perth and Kinross.
6. 1996-04-04: Name of City of Glasgow changed to Glasgow City.
7. 1996-04-25: Name of The Borders changed to The Scottish Borders.
8. 1998-01-01: Name of Western Isles changed to Eilean Siar.

Northern Ireland:

The 1801 Act of Union merged Ireland with Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom. By 1900, Ireland was subdivided into 32 counties, which were grouped into four provinces with no administrative function. After a long and painful independence struggle, Ireland became an independent country with dominion status by the Anglo-Irish Treaty, on 1921-12-06. However, a referendum was held, and on 1922-12-12, six of the nine counties, and two county boroughs, in the northern province of Ulster voted to revert to the United Kingdom. The county boroughs were Belfast (in the geographical county of Antrim) and Londonderry (in Londonderry county).

County	1901	1911	1937	1951	1961	1971	Area(km.²)	Capital
Antrim	545,270	580,811	635,352	674,820	692,500	717,798	2,907	Belfast
Armagh	125,392	120,291	108,815	114,254	117,900	133,969	1,266	Armagh
Down	205,889	204,303	210,687	241,181	270,200	311,876	2,465	Downpatrick
Fermanagh	65,430	61,836	54,569	53,044	52,400	50,255	1,701	Enniskillen
Londonderry	144,404	140,625	142,736	155,540	167,900	183,094	2,083	Londonderry
Tyrone	150,567	142,665	127,586	132,082	134,500	139,073	3,155	Omagh
	1,236,952	1,250,531	1,279,745	1,370,921	1,435,400	1,536,065	13,577

 

1973-10: By the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) of 1971, Northern Ireland was reorganized into 26 districts, each with its own district council, and further subdivided into 526 wards. These are the new districts thus formed.

District	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital	Counties
Antrim	GB.AN	ANT	UK52	46,600	563	Antrim	Antrim
Ards	GB.AD	ARD	UK53	63,600	369	Newtownards	Down
Armagh	GB.AM	ARM	UK54	50,700	672	Armagh	Armagh
Ballymena	GB.BL	BLA	UK55	56,100	637	Ballymena	Antrim
Ballymoney	GB.BY	BLY	UK56	23,800	419	Ballymoney	Antrim
Banbridge	GB.BB	BNB	UK57	32,000	445	Banbridge	Down
Belfast	GB.BF	BFS	UK58	303,800	115	Belfast	Antrim
Carrickfergus	GB.CF	CKF	UK59	29,300	87	Carrickfergus	Antrim
Castlereagh	GB.CS	CSR	UK60	57,900	85	Belfast	Antrim, Down
Coleraine	GB.CL	CLR	UK61	47,700	485	Coleraine	Antrim
Cookstown	GB.CK	CKT	UK62	27,700	623	Cookstown	Tyrone
Craigavon	GB.CR	CGV	UK63	76,600	382	Craigavon	Antrim, Armagh, Down
Down	GB.DW	DOW	UK64	56,400	647	Downpatrick	Down
Dungannon	GB.DN	DGN	UK65	43,900	780	Dungannon	Armagh, Tyrone
Fermanagh	GB.FE	FER	UK66	50,300	1,876	Enniskillen	Fermanagh
Larne	GB.LR	LRN	UK67	28,700	338	Larne	Antrim
Limavady	GB.LM	LMV	UK68	29,600	587	Limavady	Londonderry
Lisburn	GB.LB	LSB	UK69	92,900	444	Lisburn	Antrim, Down
Londonderry	GB.LD	DRY	UK70	97,500	387	Londonderry	Londonderry
Magherafelt	GB.MF	MFT	UK71	33,300	572	Magherafelt	Londonderry
Moyle	GB.MY	MYL	UK72	15,200	495	Ballycastle	Antrim
Newry and Mourne	GB.NM	NYM	UK73	87,100	895	Newry	Armagh, Down
Newtownabbey	GB.NW	NTA	UK74	72,300	150	Newtownabbey	Antrim
North Down	GB.ND	NDN	UK75	70,700	73	Bangor	Down
Omagh	GB.OM	OMH	UK76	45,800	1,129	Omagh	Tyrone
Strabane	GB.SB	STB	UK77	35,700	870	Strabane	Tyrone
26 districts				1,575,200	14,125
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1991-04-21 census Counties: Counties from which each district was formed.

 

Notes: The capital of Castlereagh is in Belfast district. Northern Ireland had NUTS code UKB.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Names often appear with generics, such as "City of London", "County Durham", or "Isle of Anglesey".

When a division name consists of three words with "on" or "upon" in the middle, hyphens may be inserted or omitted between the words. For example, "Stoke-on-Trent" is the usual form, but "Stoke on Trent" is also seen.

Some variant names for major divisions are:

1. England: Angleterre (French); Engeland (Dutch); Inghilterra (Italian); Inglaterra (Portuguese, Spanish)
2. Northern Ireland: Irlanda del Nord (Italian); Irlanda del Norte (Spanish); Irlanda do Norte (Portuguese); Irlande du Nord (French); Noord-Ierland (Dutch); Nord-Irland (Norwegian, Swedish); Nordirland (German); Norður-Írland (Icelandic)
3. Scotland: Écosse (French); Escocia (Spanish); Escócia (Portuguese); Schotland (Dutch); Schottland (German); Scozia (Italian); Skotland (Icelandic); Skottland (Norwegian, Swedish)
4. Wales: Gales (Portuguese, Spanish); Galles (Italian); Pays de Galles (French)

Minor divisions:

1. The suffix -shire can be dropped from county names, except for Berkshire, Cheshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Wiltshire, and Yorkshire. However, when there is a city of the same name, the preferred usage is either "county of Lincoln" (e.g.) or "Lincolnshire".
2. Blackburn with Darwen: Blackburn, Blackburn and Darwen (variant)
3. Conwy: Aberconwy and Colwyn (variant)
4. Cornwall: Cornouailles (French); Cornovaglia (Italian); Cornualha (Portuguese); Cornualles (Spanish); Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (formal)
5. Derry: Londonderry (variant)
6. Durham: County Durham (variant)
7. East Riding of Yorkshire: East Riding, East Yorkshire (variant)
8. Edinburgh: Édimbourg (French); Edimburgo (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
9. Greater London: Grande Londres (Portuguese); Grand Londres (French); Gran Londra (Italian)
10. Hampshire: Southampton (obsolete)
11. London: Corporation of London, Corporation of the City of London (variant)
12. Londonderry: Derry (variant)
13. Medway: Medway Towns (variant)
14. Newry and Mourne: Mourne (variant)
15. North Somerset: North-West Somerset (variant)
16. Orkney: Orcadas (Spanish); Orcades (French); Orcadi (Italian); Orkneyöarna (Swedish); Orknøyene (Norwegian)
17. Shetland Islands: Zetland (obsolete)
18. Shropshire: Salop (obsolete)
19. Southend-on-Sea: Southend (variant)
20. Stockton-on-Tees: Stockton (variant)
21. Telford and Wrekin: The Wrekin, Wrekin (variant)
22. West Berkshire: Newbury (variant)

For unitary authorities in Wales, the ISO standard shows the Welsh names in brackets when different from the English names. It also assigns these unitary authorities a set of alternate three-letter codes, based on the Welsh names. I don't recommend the use of these alternate codes. "Sir" is a Welsh cognate of "shire".

Division	Welsh Name	ISO
Anglesey	Sir Ynys Môn	YNM
Bridgend	Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr	POG
Cardiff	Caerdydd	CRD
Carmarthenshire	Sir Gaerfyrddin	GFY
Ceredigion	Sir Ceredigion	CGN
Denbighshire	Sir Ddinbych	DDB
Flintshire	Sir y Fflint	FFL
Merthyr Tydfil	Merthyr Tudful	MTU
Monmouthshire	Sir Fynwy	FYN
Neath Port Talbot	Castell-nedd Port Talbot	CTL
Newport	Casnewydd	CNW
Pembrokeshire	Sir Benfro	BNF
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	Rhondda, Cynon, Taf	RCT
Swansea	Abertawe	ATA
Torfaen	Tor-faen	TOF
Vale of Glamorgan	Bro Morgannwg	BMG
Wrexham	Wrecsam	WRC

 

These were the level-3 NUTS areas in the United Kingdom before 2000.

Reg	Statistical region	NUTS	Population	Area(km.²)
EA	East Anglia	UK4	2,091,200	12,575
EM	East Midlands	UK3	4,025,800	15,630
NW	North West	UK8	6,377,200	7,330
NO	Northern Region	UK1	3,083,700	15,401
SE	South East	UK5	17,557,000	27,222
SW	South West	UK6	4,723,400	23,831
WM	West Midlands	UK7	5,254,800	13,012
YH	Yorkshire and Humberside	UK2	4,954,200	15,427
C	Channel Islands		137,196	194
I	Isle of Man		64,282	572
N	Northern Ireland	UKB	1,575,200	14,125
S	Scotland	UKA	4,960,781	77,133
W	Wales	UK9	2,886,600	20,763
			57,691,359	243,215
Reg: Arbitrary statistical region code. NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics level-1 code.