Dyfed
Geography
Status	Welsh county
1974 area	5765.75 km²
1996 area	5765.75 km² Ranked 1st
HQ	Carmarthen
History
Origin	Kingdom of Dyfed
Created	1974
Abolished	1996
Succeeded by	Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire Preserved county of Dyfed
Demography
1971 population	316,369
1992 population	351,100 (estimate)
2007 population	375,200 (estimate)[1] Ranked 5th
Politics
Governance	Dyfed County Council
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Dyfed (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈdəvɛd]) is a preserved county of Wales.

Dyfed was created by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. It was formed from the administrative counties of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and was divided into local government districts as so:

The Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed had previously been the Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire, with the Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire and Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire becoming Lieutenants. The Dyfed-Powys Police had been created a number of years earlier.

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 broke up Dyfed and restored the ancient counties for administrative purposes on 1 April 1996: Cardiganshire (the council of which renamed itself Ceredigion), Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The name Dyfed was retained for purely ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy and is not used for geographical or postal purposes.

Dyfed as a preserved county since 2003

[edit] References

1. ^ Office for National Statistics - 2007 estimate (using 2003 preserved borders for Camarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire