UK Counties and Unitary Authorities Boundaries as of May 2021

May 2021 digital vector boundaries for Counties and Unitary Authorities in the United Kingdom. The data is provided in an ultra generalised (500m) format, clipped to the coastline. It contains intellectual property rights from both Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics.

Use Cases

• Create thematic maps of the UK based on the administrative boundaries.
• Perform spatial joins to aggregate other UK data to the county or unitary authority level.
• Analyze regional patterns and relationships using the provided vector geometry.

Strengths

• Boundaries are current as of a specific date (May 2021).
• Data is provided in an ultra generalised (500m) format, which suggests optimization for small-scale mapping.
• Contains intellectual property from authoritative UK sources (Ordnance Survey and ONS).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified as the data reflects a snapshot from 2021.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Time Range

May 2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:31:32.792957; freshness should be verified

Geography

United Kingdom