Counties of Northern Ireland

Parliament Building, Stormont, Northern Ireland
Image by Ross
Northern Ireland was divided into 26 districts, or councils, for local government purposes by the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972. The councils of the 26 districts are known as either district councils, borough councils, city councils, or and city and district councils.

These 26 districts replaced the six counties and two county boroughs that had been created by the Local Government Act 1898. These six counties and two county boroughs are still used for purposes such as Lieutenancy.



Districts of Northern Ireland

  • Antrim
  • Ards
  • Armagh
  • Ballymena
  • Ballymoney
  • Banbridge
  • Belfast
  • Carrickfergus
  • Castlereagh
  • Coleraine
  • Cookstown
  • Craigavon
  • Derry
  • Down
  • Dungannon and South Tyrone
  • Fermanagh
  • Larne
  • Limavady Lisburn
  • Magherafelt
  • Moyle
  • Newry and Mourne
  • Newtownabbey
  • North Down
  • Omagh
  • Strabane

Lieutenancy Areas of Northern Ireland


The Lieutenancy Areas of Northern Ireland are the areas used for the ceremonial Lord Lieutenants, the representatives of the UK monarch in Northern Ireland. The 8 Lieutenancy Areas comprise the 6 counties and 2 county boroughs that existed before the creation of the 26 councils in 1972.

Lieutenancy Councils


CountyCounty town
County AntrimAntrim
County ArmaghArmagh
County DownDownpatrick
County FermanaghEnniskillen
County LondonderryColeraine
County TyroneOmagh

Lieutenancy County Boroughs


  • City of Belfast
  • City of Londonderry

Related posts

Countries in the United Kingdom
Counties of England
Counties of Scotland
Counties of Wales