The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.
The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied. This area consisted of the areas of seven of the counties of Scotland:
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) uses a broader definition also used at Eurostat's NUTS level 2, and there has been a Highlands and Islands electoral region of the Scottish Parliament since 1999.
In Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service the name refers to the local government areas (council areas) of Highland, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, is also used to refer to this area.
The Highlands and Islands Partnership for Transport, established in 2006, covers most of the council areas of Argyll and Bute, Highland, Moray, Orkney and the Western Isles, Shetland is covered by the separate Shetland Partnership for Transport.
In the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, the Highlands and Islands Scottish Parliament region was the last to declare its regional votes, which were the decisive results in the dealing as to which party would have the largest representation in the Scottish Parliament.

Argyll
Inverness-shire
Ross and Cromarty
Sutherland
Caithness
Orkney
Shetland