Mid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales

National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...

 covered the counties of Ceredigion

Ceredigion

Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...

 and Powys

Powys

Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...

 and the area of Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

 that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. The Wales Spatial Plan defines a region known as "Central Wales" which covers Ceredigion and Powys.

Mid Wales is dominated by the Cambrian Mountains

Cambrian Mountains

The Cambrian Mountains are a series of mountain ranges in Wales, reaching from, and including, the South Wales mountains of the Brecon Beacons, north Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, the Black Mountains of eastern Wales, to Snowdonia in North Wales...

, including the area sometimes referred to as the "Green Desert of Wales

Desert of Wales

The Desert of Wales is a term coined to describe a large area in central Wales, so called because of its lack of roads and towns and its inaccessibility. The term was invented by English travel writers in the nineteenth century and its equivalent is not found in the Welsh language...

". The region is sparsely populated, with an economy dependent on farming and small businesses.

External links

• The BBC's Mid Wales page
• Overview of Mid Wales by the Welsh Development Agency
  Welsh Development Agency
  The Welsh Development Agency was a QUANGO and later an Assembly Sponsored Public Body established in 1976 to encourage business development and investment in Wales, to clear derelict land and to encourage growth of local businesses...