South Lanarkshire (Scots: Sooth Lanrikshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and West Lothian. It includes most of the historic county of Lanarkshire.

South Lanarkshire covers the southern part of the historic county of Lanarkshire. Lanarkshire had existed as a shire from around the time of King David I, who ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The county took its name from the original county town at Lanark, which had been the site of the first Parliament of Scotland under Kenneth II in 978.

Local government was reformed in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Lanarkshire became part of the Strathclyde region, which was divided in 19 districts.

South Lanarkshire was created in 1996, when the regions and districts created in 1975 were replaced with single-tier council areas. South Lanarkshire covered the whole area of three of the abolished Strathclyde districts, being Clydesdale, East Kilbride and Hamilton, plus an area including Rutherglen and Cambuslang from the City of Glasgow district. The Rutherglen and Cambuslang area was included following a referendum on whether to stay in Glasgow or become part of the new South Lanarkshire council area.

The large and varied geographical territory takes in rural and upland areas, market towns such as Lanark, Strathaven and Carluke, the urban burghs of Rutherglen, Cambuslang, and East Kilbride which was Scotland's first new town.

South Lanarkshire is served by the South Lanarkshire Council. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton.

Ethnic Group	2001		2011		2022
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
White: Total	298,812	98.87%	306,625	97.70%	313,148	95.75%
White: Scottish	283,624	93.85%	287,491	91.61%	285,577	87.32%
White: Other British	10,223	3.38%	12,068	3.85%	17,882	5.47%
White: Irish	2,678	0.89%	3,187	1.02%	3,078	0.94%
White: Gypsy/Traveller	–	–	203	0.06%	158	0.05%
White: Polish	–	–	1,140	0.36%	2,225	0.68%
White: Other	2,287	0.76%	2,536	0.81%	4,225	1.29%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total	2,416	0.80%	5,156	1.64%	8,119	2.48%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian	536	0.18%	1,344	0.43%	2,033	0.62%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani	968	0.32%	2,117	0.67%	3,972	1.21%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi	29	–	93	–	99	–
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese	718	0.24%	1,012	0.32%	1,055	0.32%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other	165	0.05%	590	0.19%	960	0.29%
Black, Black Scottish or Black British	43	–	–	–	–	–
African: Total	111	–	664	0.21%	1,805	0.55%
African: African, African Scottish or African British	–	–	637	0.20%	167	0.05%
African: Other African	–	–	27	–	1,636	0.50%
Caribbean or Black: Total	–	–	207	0.07%	224	0.07%
Caribbean	48	–	108	–	66	–
Black	–	–	67	–	14	–
Caribbean or Black: Other	–	–	32	–	144	–
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups: Total	482	0.16%	779	0.25%	2,439	0.75%
Other: Total	304	0.10%	399	0.13%	1,321	0.40%
Other: Arab	–	–	232	0.07%	443	0.14%
Other: Any other ethnic group	–	–	167	0.05%	878	0.27%
Total:	302,216	100.00%	313,830	100.00%	327,056	100.00%