Counties of Nova Scotia
Location	Province of Nova Scotia
Number	18
Populations	7,373 (Guysborough) – 440,072 (Halifax)
Areas	1,246.08 km² (Richmond) – 5,477.53 km² (Halifax)
Government	County government (defunct in 9 counties)[1]
Subdivisions	Municipalities

TheCanadian province ofNova Scotia has a historical system of 18 counties that originally had appointed court systems for local administration before the establishment of elected local governments in 1879. The historicalcounties continue ascensus divisions used byStatistics Canada in administering theCanadian census.

Before the establishment ofrural municipalities in the form ofcounty municipalities anddistrict municipalities in 1879, local government in the historical counties was administered by appointed courts of sessions including justices appointed by theCrown with support from local proprietors selected to grand juries.^[2] These courts of sessions met "in the counties to hear cases, make regulations, authorize assessments, and appoint local officers."^[2] On April 17, 1879, the original non-elected courts of sessions were abolished in favour of elected councils whenThe County Incorporation Act came into force, which stated

The Inhabitants of every County and Sessional District in this Province ... shall be a body corporate under the name of the Municipality of the respective county or district, as the case may (be), ...^[2]

As a result, 12 county municipalities were established, while the remaining 6 counties, which were previously divided into districts for court sessional purposes, were established as district municipalities.^[2] Today, 9 of the original 12 remain incorporated as county municipalities, with 3 eventually becomingregional municipalities in 1995 and 1996,^[3] while Statistics Canada uses all 18 historical counties as census divisions for statistical purposes in the Canadian census.^[4] County municipalities and district municipalities provide local government to the residents of the historical counties living outside of incorporated towns and regional municipalities.^[2][3]

County[5]	County seat[6]	Established	Organization of county	Population (2021)[7]	Population (2016)[7]	Change [7]	Land area (km²)[7]	Population density[7]	Map
Annapolis	Annapolis Royal	1759	County municipality	21,252	20,591	+3.2%	3,183.23	6.7/km2
Antigonish	Antigonish	1785	County municipality	20,129	19,301	+4.3%	1,456.42	13.8/km2
Cape Bretona	Sydney	1765	Regional municipality	98,318	98,722	−0.4%	2,457.21	40.0/km2
Colchester	Truro	1835	County municipality	51,476	50,585	+1.8%	3,627.50	14.2/km2
Cumberland	Amherst	1759	County municipality	30,538	30,005	+1.8%	4,275.77	7.1/km2
Digby	Digby	1837	District municipality	17,062	17,323	−1.5%	2,512.28	6.8/km2
Guysborough	Guysborough	1836	District municipality	7,373	7,625	−3.3%	4,037.16	1.8/km2
Halifaxb	Halifax	1759	Regional municipality	440,072	403,390	+9.1%	5,477.53	80.3/km2
Hants	Windsor	1781	District municipality	45,140	42,558	+6.1%	3,049.18	14.8/km2
Inverness	Port Hood	1835	County municipality	17,346	17,235	+0.6%	3,817.61	4.5/km2
Kings	Kentville	1759	County municipality	62,914	60,600	+3.8%	2,120.31	29.7/km2
Lunenburg	Lunenburg	1759	District municipality	48,599	47,126	+3.1%	2,906.47	16.7/km2
Pictou	Pictou	1835	County municipality	43,657	43,748	−0.2%	2,844.10	15.4/km2
Queensc	Liverpool	1762	Regional municipality	10,501	10,351	+1.4%	2,393.44	4.4/km2
Richmond	Arichat	1835	County municipality	8,914	8,964	−0.6%	1,246.08	7.2/km2
Shelburne	Shelburne	1784	District municipality	13,704	13,966	−1.9%	2,462.58	5.6/km2
Victoria	Baddeck	1851	County municipality	7,441	7,089	+5.0%	2,836.19	2.6/km2
Yarmouth	Yarmouth	1836	District municipality	24,947	24,419	+2.2%	2,121.64	11.8/km2
Total counties	—	—	—	969,383	923,598	+5.0%	52,824.71	18.4/km2

^a county boundaries contiguous with those of theCape Breton Regional Municipality.
^b county boundaries contiguous with those of theHalifax Regional Municipality.
^c county boundaries contiguous with those of theRegion of Queens Municipality.

• Administrative divisions of Canada
• Administrative divisions of Nova Scotia
• Demographics of Nova Scotia
• Geography of Nova Scotia
• List of communities in Nova Scotia
• List of municipalities in Nova Scotia
• List of towns in Nova Scotia
• List of villages in Nova Scotia
• Subdivisions of Canada

• The County Incorporation Act and the Establishment of Municipal Government in Nova Scotia
• Municipal History Highlights
• Municipal Incorporation Timeline

• Counties of Nova Scotia
• Lists of populated places in Nova Scotia
• Lists of counties

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2016
• Pages using infobox subdivision type with unknown parameters