Stirling (Sruighlea in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland with a population of about 85,000. It covers most of the former county of Stirlingshire (except Falkirk) and the south-western portion of the former county of Perthshire. The administrative centre of the region is the City of Stirling itself. The region borders Clackmannanshire (to the east), Falkirk (to the south east), Perth and Kinross (to the north and north east), Argyll and Bute (to the north and north west), and both East and West Dunbartonshire, both to Stirling's southwest.
The majority of the population of the region is located in its southeast corner, in the city of Stirling and in the surrounding lowland communities: Dunblane and Bridge of Allan to the north, Bannockburn to the immediate south, and the three former coal mining communities of Cowie, Fallin, and Plean (known collectively as "The Eastern Villages").
The remaining 30 percent of the region's population is sparsely distributed across the rural, mainly highland, expanse in the north of the region. The southern half of this rural area comprises the flat western floodplain of the River Forth, bounded on the south by the Touch Hills and the Campsie Fells. North of the glen lie the Trossachs mountains, and the northern half of the region is generally mountainous in character.
Aberfoyle Achmore Airth Alloa Alva Ardeonaig Auchtoo Avonbridge Balfron Balmaha Balquhidder Bannockburn Blackstone Blanefield Bo'ness Bonnybridge Bridge of Allan Buchany Buchlyvie Callander Cambusbarron Carron Castlecary Causewayhead Clackmannan Cowie Crianlarich Denny Dollar Doune Drymen Dunblane Dunipace Falkirk Fintry Forest Mill Fowlis Wester Gargunnock Gartmore Gartness Glengyle Grahamston Grangemouth Haggs Inversnaid Kennet Kepculloch Killearn Killin Kinbuck Kingshouse Kippen Larbert Lochearnhead Morenish Mugdock Plean Polmont Port of Menteith Rowardennan Saint Ninians Sauchie Slamannan Stirling Strathblane Strathyre Stronachlachar Stronachlachar (1) Stronachlachar (2) Stronachlachar (3) Stronachlachar (4) Suie Suie (1) Thornhill Thornhill (1) Tillicoultry Tillicoultry (1)
