North Ayrshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Àir a Tuath, pronounced [ʃirˠəxk iɲiˈɾʲaːɾʲ ə t̪ʰuə]) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South respectively.

The area was created in 1996 as a successor to the district of Cunninghame which covered exactly the same boundaries. The council headquarters are located in Irvine, which is the largest town. The area also contains the towns of Ardrossan, Beith, Dalry, Kilbirnie, Kilwinning, Largs, Saltcoats, Skelmorlie, Stevenston, West Kilbride, as well as the Isle of Arran and the Cumbrae Isles.

Towns in the north (Largs, Fairlie, West Kilbride) are affluent commuter towns, while Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and Kilwinning in the south, are rather more industrial and beset with high unemployment. The inland Garnock Valley towns (Dalry, Beith and Kilbirnie) were once a centre of steel and textile production, however this has long since gone. Tourism is the main industry on Arran and Cumbrae, however the number of holiday homes on the latter has begun to squeeze locals out of the housing market. Regeneration is currently taking place at Ardrossan Harbour and Irvine town centre, and there has been a rapid increase in the building of new housing in recent years.

Ayrshire (Scots: Coontie o Ayrshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, pronounced [ʃirˠəxk iɲiˈɾʲaːɾʲ]) is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the last seven years^[when?] and eight times in total. Approximately 200,000 visitors came to Troon during the 2004 Open.^{[citation needed]} It was the members of Prestwick Golf Club who first created the British Open Championship in 1860 with the club hosting the event twenty-four times up until 1925.

Ayrshire, under the name the County of Ayr, is a registration county. The electoral and valuation area named Ayrshire covers the three council areas of South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire, therefore including the Isle of Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae. The three islands were part of the County of Bute until 1975 and are not always included when the term Ayrshire is applied to the region. The same area is known as Ayrshire and Arran in other contexts.