Aberdeen is Scotland's third largest city and the regional centre for the North East of Scotland. Aberdeen City has an area of 186 square kilometres and is the seventh most populous council area with a population of 206,880 people. There are 76 publicly funded schools, including 53 primaries, 12 secondaries and 11 special schools. 22,489 pupils attend these schools, including 12,285 primary pupils, 9,917 secondary pupils and 287 special needs pupils.