Regions of Wales


Wales has traditionally been divided into a number of ambiguous and ill-defined areas described as regions, reflecting historical, geographical, administrative, cultural and electoral boundaries within the country. Presently, the most common form of division of Wales into "regions" has been using cardinal and intercardinal references: north or south-west for example. None of the variously described "regions" have official status or defined boundaries; neither is there a fixed number of regions. Various organisations use different regions and combinations of regions for their individual purposes. This includes devolved institutions, such as Visit Wales, Natural Resources Wales, and the Welsh Government itself, using different sets of Wales' regions. Wales is most commonly sub-divided into between two and four regions, with a North–South divide, and North, Mid, South East and South West division being common. This article lists the various terms applied to be the "regions of Wales" and the regions used by various organisations.

Status

The regions of Wales have little administrative status, as of 2022, nor are they officially defined. Local government is primarily managed by the twenty-two principal areas.
Some argue that Wales should stop using terms to describe regions of Wales, as they lack both strict definitions and boundaries, and instead consider Wales as a single entity. However, others campaign for more recognition of Wales' various regions, such as the north and west.

Historical usage

North-South divide

There may be a north-south divide, between North Wales and South Wales. The Cambrian Mountains form a mountainous interior of Wales, limiting the connection between North and South with few transport links between them. Most of the population of Wales is concentrated on opposing sides of Wales. Transport links between North and South Wales are significantly weak, with major north–south links passing through England, and both the North and South, having closer transport links with North West England, and South West England respectively. Liverpool is sometimes described as the "Capital of North Wales", as it is the largest city closest to North Wales. Historical maps divide North and South Wales using the boundaries between Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, and between Cardiganshire and Merionethshire, but the modern-day divide is described as ambiguous or arbitrary.
Modern usage
Since devolution, the Welsh Government is making efforts to increase connection between north and south. However in 2013 there were reports that the Welsh Government may have short-changed the north by £131.53 million, which critics describe as proof of a modern north–south divide. The government responded that the figures are "highly misleading", as they ignore funding through Wales-wide programmes, and that the government has spent more on health and transport in the north than in the south-east, and more on education than the national average. The then First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, disagreed that there was a north–south divide in Wales, but stated that there would "never be a time" that people will no longer see a north–south divide.
There is a part-ministerial post in the Welsh Cabinet for "North Wales", and a North Wales office of the Senedd. Plaid Cymru has called for a trans-Wales railway as a solution to bridge the cultural divide between north and south.
There is a north–south divide in language, not only between more and less Welsh-speaking areas, but also in terms of accents and dialects of Welsh. There is also a cultural divide between "gogs" in the north and "hwntws" in the south.
There may be a tourism divide between north and south Wales due to geographic and existing transport capabilities, with tourism in the north aimed at nearby tourists from the rest of the UK and closer airports in Liverpool and Manchester, for day trips and staycations; whereas strategies for the south by the devolved administrations aim for more international and longer-term tourism through Cardiff Airport in the south. Strategies based on drawing tourists through Cardiff Airport may not have a big impact on the north due to a lack of connectivity with Cardiff Airport and the north of Wales.

Capitalisation

There is a debate whether to spell the regions of Wales with a capitalised letter or a lowercase letter, for example either a lower case 'n' for north Wales or a capitalised 'N' for North Wales. The debate has been coined as the "to cap or not to cap" debate in media. Usage varies, BBC News and the Welsh Government for example use lowercase, whereas Visit Wales uses capitalised, with the latter having their own version of Wales' regions. David Williams, chairman of the North Wales Business Club, announced his support for capping the term "North" in "North Wales" stating that the region should be "very recognisable in our own right".

List of regions

Geographical regions and sub-regions

Regions using the cardinal and intercardinal points of a compass, e.g. north and south-west for nomenclature, and are based mainly on physical and environmental geographic factors due to their lack of definition.
For many administrative purposes, most of the regions follow the boundaries of the twenty-two principal areas of Wales. Those listed below are based on the usage by organisations further down.

By organisation

Note: names in-between inverted commas, implies there are other definitions of the region that may be more common.

Visit Wales

Visit Wales uses four regions:

Business Wales

Business Wales uses four regions:

Welsh Government Economic Action Plan

Either a three economic region model or a four economic region model:
Three region model

Future Wales: The National Plan 2040 (Welsh Government)

Natural Resources Wales

Described as the six "areas" by Natural Resources Wales

Wales Spatial Plan

Note: no clear boundaries shown, merely labels on a blank map.

Former organisations

Welsh Development Agency and the Development Board for Rural Wales
Pre-mid-1990s regions
  • "North East Wales" — Clwyd with boundaries between 1974 and 1996
  • "North West Wales" — Gwynedd with boundaries between 1974 and 1996 ;
  • Development Board for Rural Wales — Mid Wales and Meirionnydd of Gwynedd.
  • "West Wales" — Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.
  • South Wales — Llanelli, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and parts of Bridgend County Borough
  • South Wales — Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly County Borough, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, and parts of Bridgend County Borough.
  • South Wales — City and County of Cardiff, Newport, Monmouthshire, and the Vale of Glamorgan.
    Post-mid-1990s regions
  • "North Wales" — Clwyd and Gwynedd with boundaries between 1974 and 1996
  • Development Board for Rural Wales — Mid Wales and Meirionnydd of Gwynedd.
  • "West Wales" — Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, City and County of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend County Borough
  • "South Wales" — Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly County Borough, City and County of Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, and Vale of Glamorgan

Other organisations

Statistical regions

StatsWales

StatsWales divides Wales into "Economic regions", of either a three economic region model or a four economic region model:
Three region model

International Territorial Level 2 regions

Cultural regions

Denis Balsom's three-Wales model (1985)

Linguistic regions

Welsh speakers

  • Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Isle of Anglesey — Majority Welsh-speaking region
  • Conwy, Denbighshire, Pembrokeshire and Powys — Significant Welsh-speaking region
  • Rest of Wales — Minority Welsh-speaking region

Dialect regions

Two dialect model:
  • Northern Welsh — North Wales
  • Southern Welsh — South Wales
Four dialect model:

City regions

Regional Tourism Partnerships

Regional Corporate Joint Committees

Regional Skills Partnerships

Transport-related

Cross-border regions

Electoral regions

Historic regions

Natural regions

Tourism names

Coal mining regions

Fire and Rescue

Rugby league

Rugby union

Others