The political and administrative geography of the UK is complex and varied. Built up over centuries and constantly evolving, areas of the UK are divided up differently for elections, local government, the NHS and a range of other administrative reasons.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide to help you navigate the various layers, and understand how the UK is divided up for different purposes. These geographies form the basis for a range of statistical reporting, so by splitting the UK into these areas, we are able to analyse how different areas of the UK are performing for a whole array of indicators from crime to health inequalities.
For the purposes of this guide, we have divided the UK’s political and administrative geographies into the following categories to enable you to explore further: