| Official Name: | Central Belt |
| Type: | Area |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Static Image Name: | File:Scotland blank map (central belt).png |
| Static Image Caption: | Central Belt area with urban areas (pink), including Ayrshire in the south-west and Tayside to the north-east |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | |
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| Population: | |
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| Os Grid Reference: | NS 83764 74675 |
| Map Type: | Scotland |
| Coordinates: | 55.951°N -3.863°W |
| Hide Services: | yes |
The Central Belt of Scotland is the area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in 2019), including multiple Scottish cities; Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Lothian and Fife.
Despite the name, it is not geographically central but is nevertheless at the "waist" of Scotland on a conventional map and the term "central" is used in many local government, police and NGO designations.
It was formerly known as the Midlands or Scottish Midlands but this term has fallen out of fashion.
The Central Belt lies between the Highlands to the north and the Southern Uplands to the south.
In the early 21st century, predictions were made that due to economic migration indicators, the urban areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh, whose centres are approximately apart, could merge to create a megalopolis over the coming decades.[1] [2]
The area is often considered as the triangle defined by the M8, M80 and M9 motorways stretching from Greenock and Glasgow in the west to Edinburgh in the east, and has been referred to as the Lowland Triangle.[3] encompassing towns such as Paisley, Cambuslang, Hamilton, Stirling, Falkirk, Cumbernauld, Livingston and Bathgate. The population of the local authority areas which are wholly within this territory and have no extensive unpopulated areas was approximately 2.39 million in 2018.[4]
The larger Central Belt is a trapezoid, not precisely defined, but essentially encompassing the generally low-lying areas from Helensburgh to Montrose (the Highland Boundary Fault) and from Girvan to Dunbar (the Southern Uplands Fault). This also takes in fairly densely populated regions such as Ayrshire and East Lothian, and encompasses all the major cities of Scotland, except for Aberdeen and Inverness which are located in the north of the country, as well as the bulk of Scotland's industrial works. Including rural parts of the council areas involved, the total population was around 4.28 million in 2018.[4]
There are several terms in common usage in a Scottish context with a similar meaning to "Central Belt".