The 32 council areas of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland included, on one sheet.
Blank Map of Scotland
Name Date
Blank map with borders
1 of 8
Tap a council area to write its name in.
More options
Write the name of each numbered council area.Answer key
Aberdeen
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll and Bute
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries and Galloway
Dundee
East Ayrshire
East Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Edinburgh
Falkirk
Fife
Glasgow
Highland
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Orkney Islands
Outer Hebrides
Perth and Kinross
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
Shetland Islands
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
Stirling
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian
Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2. Licence: public domain.
Each council area is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a council area is answered.
How this list was compiled: Items made on 2026-09-26; names, ids and accepted spellings are Natural Earth's. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_map_units (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_map_units.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 57°N 4.7°W. Shetland Islands moved into an inset. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This blank map of Scotland shows its 32 council areas, from Highland and the Outer Hebrides to the Scottish Borders. Switch Borders off and it prints as a plain outline map of Scotland.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
The sheet opens blank. Choose Numbered to put a number on each of the 32 council areas of Scotland, or Named for their names, then press Print this map; the answer key prints on its own sheet.
Shetland moved into a box
Shetland lies far to the north-east of Orkney, so the map moves it into an inset at the upper right, at the same scale. Highland is by far the largest council area; Dundee is small enough to carry a ring.
Tell students the Shetland box is not its real place: it sits about 170 km north-east of Orkney, out in the North Sea.
Questions and answers
How many council areas does Scotland have?
Thirty-two, the unitary councils set up in 1996. All 32 are drawn and numbered on this map, the three island councils among them.
Which is the largest council area?
Highland, which covers most of the north-west of the mainland and Skye. Argyll and Bute is the second largest.
Are St Kilda and Rockall on the map?
No. St Kilda lies west of the Outer Hebrides and Rockall much farther out, both outside the frame of this map.