Greater Glasgow

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For the NHS Health Board, see NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Greater Glasgow
Scottish Gaelic: Mòr-Ghlaschu
Scots: Muckler Glesca
Greater Glasgow.PNG
Satellite image showing the Greater Glasgow Area
Area  142.27 sq mi (368.5 km2[1]
Population 1,199,629
Language English, Scots, Gaelic[2]
OS grid reference NS590655
   – Edinburgh 42 mi (68 km)  
   – London 403 mi (649 km)  
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town GLASGOW
Postcode district G1–G83
Post town PAISLEY
Postcode district PA1–PA19
Postcode district ML1–ML8
Dialling code 0141, 01236, 01355, 01360, 01389, 01505, 01698, 01475
EU Parliament Scotland
List of places

Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government boundaries and its territorial extent is defined by the General Register Office for Scotland, which determines settlements in Scotland for census and statistical purposes. Greater Glasgow had a population of 1,199,629 at the 2001 census[3] making it the largest urban area in Scotland and the fifth largest in the United Kingdom.[4]

In addition to being the name of this true conurbation, the term Greater Glasgow is informally (and confusingly) used to refer to the general area surrounding the City of Glasgow. Despite this, Greater Glasgow should not however be confused with the wider Glasgow City Region, which consists of Glasgow City Council and 7 surrounding local authorities in their entireties, thus including not only the Greater Glasgow urban settlement but also other settlements fully detached from it. This city-region is described as a metropolitan area by its own strategic planning authority, and is similar to the Glasgow metropolitan area identified by the European Union.

The City of Glasgow in the late 19th and early 20th centuries grew to having a population of over one million people and was the third city in Europe to reach one million, after London and Paris.[5] The official population stayed well over one million for more than 50 years.[6] However, in the 1960s large-scale relocation to new towns in the suburban area of the city and many boundary changes since then have reduced the population of the core City of Glasgow council area to 580,690 (August 2007).[7]

Greater Glasgow urban area[edit]

Glasgow amidst a population cartogram of Scotland.

The Urban Area, also known as the Glasgow settlement, includes the following localities:

Settlement Population

(1991 census)


(2001 census)[3]

Airdrie 36,842 36,326
Bargeddie 2,325 2,144
Barrhead 16,753 17,244
Bearsden 27,707 27,967
Bellshill 21,624 20,705
Bishopbriggs 23,825 23,118
Bothwell 6,542 6,379
Busby 1,617 1,654
Calderbank 1,709 1,663
Cambuslang 23,212 24,500
Carfin 1,226 1,048
Chapelhall 4,405 5,214
Clarkston 18,899 19,136
Clydebank 29,171 29,858
Coatbridge 43,467 41,170
Duntocher and Hardgate 7,882 7,301
Elderslie 5,166 5,180
Erskine 15,166 15,347
Faifley 6,087 4,932
Gartcosh 952 (2001) 2,145 (2011)
Giffnock 16,190 16,178
Glasgow 658,379 629,501
Holytown 5,648 5,483
Howwood 1,036 1,502
Johnstone 18,280 16,468
Kilbarchan 3,710 3,622
Linwood 10,183 9,058
Milngavie 11,992 12,795
Milton 1,079 986
Motherwell 30,769 30,311
New Stevenston 3,287 4,108
Newarthill 6,585 6,849
Newmains 5,878 5,329
Newton Mearns 19,342 22,637
Old Kilpatrick 2,408 3,199
Paisley 73,925 74,170
Renfrew 20,764 20,251
Rutherglen 25,000 25,000
Stepps 4,942 4,802
Uddingston 5,367 5,576
Viewpark 15,044 15,841
Wishaw 29,574 28,565


In 1973, the Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive was created to take over control of Glasgow Corporation Transport (which included the Glasgow Subway). Following local government reorganisation in 1975, control subsequently passed to Strathclyde Regional Council. The former PTE is now the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, within Transport Scotland.

The Glasgow conurbation is served by the largest urban rail network in the UK outside of London,[8] with 186 rail stations in the Greater Glasgow area. The city is served by the only metro system in Scotland, the Glasgow Subway; and by two international airports, Glasgow Prestwick International Airport[9] and Glasgow International Airport.[10]

Post codes[edit]

Following the local government boundary changes in 1996 and the creation of unitary councils in Scotland, replacing the former regional and district councils, the Greater Glasgow Settlement Area or Urban Area was created for the 2001 Census from groups of neighbouring urban postcodes grouped so that each group of postcode unit contains at least a given number of addresses per unit area, and the group contains at least 500 residents.

Glasgow City Region[edit]

The Glasgow City Region,[11] is a collection of local authorities clustered around Glasgow.[12] The eight constituent authorities are:

The estimated population of this area in 2007 was 1,750,500.[7] The city region is not a conurbation as significant parts of the council areas (and the whole of Inverclyde) are separated from Greater Glasgow by open countryside. It uses numerous other terms for itself, including Metropolitan Glasgow,[11] the metropolitan City-Region of Glasgow"[13] and Glasgow and the Clyde Valley. The city region has no single municipal government, the eight authorities instead form a combined strategic planning authority.[13]

Metropolitan Glasgow[edit]

While the Scottish Government makes no official recognition of 'Metropolitan status' in its workings,[14] the term is used by other bodies. The European Union's statistical body Eurostat lists Glasgow as the 32nd most populous metropolitan area, or Larger Urban Zones, in the EU. Although not defining the boundaries of this metropolitan area, Eurostat state it consists "of over 1.7 million inhabitants covering an area of 3,346 km2".,[15] which is similar to the 1.75 million population of the Glasgow City Region and may suggest a correlation between the two. The Glasgow City Region's strategic development authority describes itself as the planning authority for the "Glasgow metropolitan area"[16] and the "metropolitan city-region of Glasgow".[13]

The former local government region of Strathclyde has also been identified as a metropolitan area surrounding the Greater Glasgow conurbation, and covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland's population.[17]


  1. ^ "Analyser UV02". Retrieved 2007-08-04. 
  2. ^ "Layout 1" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  3. ^ a b "Key Statistics for Settlements and Localities Scotland". General Register Office for Scotland. Retrieved 2008-09-08. 
  4. ^ The UK’s major urban areas Office for National Statistics, 2005
  5. ^ [1][dead link]
  6. ^ [2][dead link]
  7. ^ a b "2007 Population Estimates". Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  8. ^ [3][dead link]
  9. ^ "Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Holidays, parking, flight arrival and departure information". 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  10. ^ "Welcome to Glasgow Airport | Parking". Glasgow Airport. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  11. ^ a b "Unknown". Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  12. ^ "Glasgow and Clyde Valley Structure Plan". Retrieved 2008-09-08. 
  13. ^ a b c "Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee | GCVSDPA". 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  14. ^ "Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament". 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  15. ^ "CityProfiles". Urban Audit. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 
  16. ^ "Glasgow and Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee". 1998-05-07. Retrieved 2012-11-14. 

Coordinates: 55°51′43″N 4°15′16″W﻿ / ﻿55.86200°N 4.25448°W﻿ / 55.86200; -4.25448