Electoral districts are used in state elections. Districts were also used in several states ascadastral units for land titles. Some were used assquatting districts.New South Wales had several different types of districts used in the 21st century.
InAustria, the wordBezirk is used with different meanings in three different contexts:
Some of the tasks of the administrative branch of the national and regional governments are fulfilled by the 95district administrative offices (Bezirkshauptmannschaften). The area a district administrative office is responsible for is often, although informally, called a district (Bezirk). A number ofstatutory cities, currently 15, are not served by any district administrative office. Their respective municipal bureaucracies handle the tasks normally performed by the district administrative office.
The cities ofVienna andGraz are divided into municipal districts (Stadtbezirke), assisting the respective municipal governments. In Vienna, the constituents of each district elect a district council (Bezirksvertretung); the district council in turn elects a district chairperson (Bezirksvorsteher). Although the city vests its districts with a limited amount of budgetary autonomy, district councils and chairpersons have little real responsibility. In particular, they do not legislate. Most of thedistricts of Vienna were independent municipalities at some point; district councils and chairpersons symbolize the town councils and mayors they used to have.
From the point of view of thejudiciary of Austria, the country is subdivided into 115 judicial districts (Gerichtsbezirke), each corresponding to one of the country's 115 lowest-level trial courts.
Azerbaijan is administratively divided into the following subdivisions:
59 districts (rayonlar; sing.–rayon),
11 cities (şəhərlər; sing.–şəhər),
1 autonomous republic (muxtar respublika), which itself contains:
7 districts
1 city
The rayons are further divided into municipalities (bələdiyyə).
Additionally, Azerbaijan is subdivided into 9 (economic) regions (İqtisadi Rayonlar; sing.–İqtisadi Rayon). This is not an administrative division. Each region contains a number of districts. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic forms a separate, 10th economic region.
Bangladeshi districts are local administrative units. In all, there are 64 districts in Bangladesh. Originally, there were 21 greater districts with several subdivisions in each district. In 1984, the government made all these subdivisions into districts. Each district has several sub-districts calledUpazila in Bengali with a total 493 Upzillas.
InBelgian municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, on the initiative of the local council, sub-municipal administrative entities with elected councils may be created. As such, onlyAntwerp, having over 460,000 inhabitants, became subdivided intonine districts (Dutch:districten).
The Belgianarrondissements (also in French as well as inDutch), an administrative level between province (or the capital region) and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English, sometimes called districts as well.
Districts are the first-level administrative divisions ofBotswana, alongside town councils and city councils. Each of the ten districts have their own district councils.[1]
Brazilianmunicipalities are subdivided into districts. Small municipalities usually have only one urban district, which contains the city itself, consisting of the seat of the local government, where the municipality'sprefeitura andcâmara de vereadores (City Hall and City Council, respectively, the Executive andLegislative local bodies) are located. The rural districts and groups of urban districts (mainly in large cities) may also present a sub local Executive body, namedsubprefeitura.
A district is known locally asdaerah and it is the first-level administrative division of Brunei. There are four districts in the country, namelyBrunei-Muara,Tutong,Belait andTemburong. Each district is administered by aJabatan Daerah (District Office), which is headed by aPegawai Daerah (District Officer). All district offices are government departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs (Malay:Kementerian Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri).
Within the area of municipal powers,regional districts – which are somewhat analogous to counties in other jurisdictions, a number of municipalities, and unincorporated areas – are always referred to as "regional districts" to distinguish them from district municipalities and other kinds of district.
Other kinds of districts in British Columbia are:
Electoral districts (some early ridings, as electoral districts are commonly known, included "district" in their title, e.g.New Westminster District)
Land districts, which are the underlying cadastral survey system for the province and are the primary locational reference used in government databases and references. The primary use of "district" in combinations such as the Lillooet District or New Westminster District was a reference to the land district, though sometimes to mining divisions.
School districts, also often referred to simply as "districts", when in context.
Other types of regional subdivision, according to the ministry or agency, are generally styled "region" or "area". These include as Ministry of Environment regions,health regions, and regional management planning areas such as theMuskwa-Kechika Management Planning Area.
In western and northern Canada, the federal government createddistricts as subdivisions of theNorthwest Territories 1870–1905, partly on the model of the districts created in theProvince of Canada[6][citation needed]. The first district created was theDistrict of Keewatin in 1876 followed by four more districts in 1882. Gradually, these districts became separate territories (such asYukon), separate provinces (such asAlberta andSaskatchewan) or were absorbed into other provinces.
InOntario, a district is a statutory subdivision of the province, but, unlike a county, a district is not incorporated. Most districts are composed of unincorporated lands, mostlyCrown land. Originally present-daySouthern Ontario (then part of theProvince of Quebec and after 1791,Upper Canada) was divided into districts in 1788[1]. Districts continued to operation until 1849 when they were replaced by counties by theProvince of Canada.
The current Ontario districts such asAlgoma andNipissing were first created by the Province of Canada in 1858 prior toConfederation for the delivery of judicial and provincial government services to sparsely populated areas from thedistrict seat (e.g.Sault Ste. Marie). Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services. The boundaries of a federalcensus division may correspond to those of a district.
InQuebec, districts are municipal electoral subdivisions ofboroughs, which are subdivisions of cities. They function in a similar manner to what is elsewhere known as award.
Modern districts are a recent innovation. In the context ofpre-modern China, the English translation "district" is typically associated withxian (縣;xiàn), another Chinese administrative division. Thexian is translated as "county" in the context of modern China.
A "district" inCzechia is anokres (pluralokresy). After a reform in 2002, the districts lost administrative power to regions (kraje) and selected towns (pověřené obce) and became statistical zones.
InGermany, a district (Kreis) is an administrative unit between theLänder (German federal states) and the local / municipal levels (Gemeinden). As of 2011, most of the 402 German districts areLandkreise, rural districts. 107 larger cities (usually with more than 100,000 inhabitants) that do not belong to a district are considered as urban districts (Kreisfreie Städte orStadtkreise).
A local subdistrict is called aGemarkung, and is mostly a smaller rural area (with similar concepts in Austria and Switzerland). AGemarkung is usually associated with and named after a central town or village. Areas in such subdistricts and their usage are documented in central registries (German:Kataster) and have been historically used for taxation.
In some states, there is additional level of administration between theLänder and theLandkreise calledRegierungsbezirk (government district).
175 districts were established on January 1, 2013. The existing19 counties are subdivided into 6–18 districts per county. The capital city ofBudapest does not belong to any counties and is already divided to 23 districts.
A district is headed by aDeputy Commissioner/ Collector, who is responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order. The district collector may belong to IAS (Indian Administrative Service). Other key responsibilities include the collection ofrevenue, land management, co-ordination and disaster management. Usually, the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector is granted magisterial powers under section 20 of Criminal Procedure Code, and designated as theDistrict Magistrate. The official designations are "Collector and District Magistrate" or "Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate".
Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called eithertahliks ormandalss ormavattams, depending on the region. These units have specific local responsibilities, including in particular coordinating revenue collection.An intermediate level (thesub-division) between district and tehsil/taluka may be formed by grouping these units under the oversight ofAssistant Commissioners, Sub-collectors orSub-divisional magistrate. Each district includes one or two cities (or large towns), a few smaller towns and dozens of villages. Most of the Indian districts have the same name as their main town or city.
As of April 2016, theNational Informatics Centre of theGovernment of India, lists a total of 664 districts in India, more than the number of parliamentary constituencies (545).[7] This number went up to a total of 723 districts in 2019.[8]
InWestern New Guinea, one of the sevenregions of Indonesia, adistrik is a subdivision of a regency or a city. Formerly it was called akecamatan. In translations of most official documents,kecamatan itself is translated into English as "district", but some other documents (especially from older era) translated it to "subdistrict", which is equivalent to akelurahan in recent translations. This translation ambiguity has caused confusions among foreigners.Distrik orkecamatan do not have legal autonomy to govern themselves, because they are only administrative extensions of a regency or a city.
Iran is subdivided into thirty oneprovinces (Persian:استانostān), each governed from a local center, usually the largest local city, which is called the capital (Persian:Markaz) of that province. The provinces of Iran further subdivided intocounties called (Persian:شهرستانshahrestān), an area inside anostān, and consists of a city center, fewbakhsh (Persian:بخش) and many villages around them. There are usually a few cities (Persian:شهرshahr) and rural agglomerations (Persian:دهستانdehestān) in each county. Rural agglomerations are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county. The wordshahrestān comes from the Persian wordsshahr andostān, which meancity (ortown) andprovince, respectively. The nearest equivalent ofshahrestān in English would be sub-province or county. Eachshahrestān has a governmental office known asfarmandari which coordinates different events and governmental offices. Thefarmandar, or the head offarmandari, is the governor of theshahrestān which is the highest governmental authority in the division.
In Iraq, they use the wordqadaa for districts. There are over a hundred districts, each district being within one of 18Iraqi governorates, sometimes known as provinces. The district generally (but not always) bears the name of a city within that district, usually the capital of that district.
A district (郡,gun) is a local administrative unit comprisingtowns andvillages but notcities. Seedistricts of Japan for a more complete description. In 1923, its administrative role was abolished although it is still in use for addressing purposes. "District" is also a translation ofchiku, defined by Japan's planning law.[citation needed]
InEast Malaysia, a district is a subdivision within adivision of a state. For example,Tuaran is a district within theWest Coast Division ofSabah. A district is usually named after the main town or its administrative capital, for example,Sandakan town is the capital of the district of Sandakan, as well the capital ofSandakan Division (note: Sandakan district is a sub-division of Sandakan Division).
InPeninsular Malaysia, a district is a division of astate. Amukim is a subdivision of a district. Themukim, is however, of less importance with respect to the administration of local government.
An administrative district border and anelectoral district border (constituency) transcend each other and do not correspond with each other in most instances.
Malta holds 13 Electoral Divisions for the unicameral (single-assembly) parliament. Each consists of a number oflocalities (although there is no requirement that electoral boundaries follow the boundaries of localities).[9][10]
Nepal is divided into 77 districts. Each district acts as an independent administrative unit. A district consists of two types of units likeRural Municipalities and Municipalities. Official documents like citizenship cards and passports are issued by the Chief of District Office (CDO). Constituencies for elections are also constructed according to the population distribution within the district.
A district in New Zealand is a territorial authority (second-tier local government unit) that has not gained the distinction of being proclaimed a city. Districts tend to be less urbanized, tend to cover more than one population center and a larger amount of rural area, and tend to have a smaller population than cities. While cities and districts are generally considered to be two different types of territorial authority, the area covered by a city is often known as its district—for example the termdistrict plan is used equally in districts and cities. TheChatham Islands Territory is neither a district nor a city.
A district is not always a simple division of aregion: several districts lie within two regions, and theTaupo District lies in four.
Districts ofPakistan are local administrative units inherited from theBritish Raj. They form third-level Administrative Division in Pakistan after Provinces and Divisions. Districts were generally grouped into administrative divisions, which in turn formedprovinces. Pakistan has 160 districts (including ten inAzad Jammu and Kashmir). They are known aszillas inUrdu. They comprise villages, towns, and cities. A district is headed by a districtnazim (mayor), who is an elected official (in local body elections) and the local controller of the district level officers of all the departments under provincial government, whileDeputy Commissioner is the executive head of the District usually Grade-18 officer fromPakistan Administrative Service. Deputy Commissioner is entrusted with overall responsibility of law & order, implementation of government schemes and is also authorized to hear revenue cases pertaining to the district. The district mayor (nazim) heads an elected district council composed of councilors, who represent various district-level constituencies. The councils have a constitutional requirement to be composed of a minimum of 33% women or more than that.
A constituency with a representative in the lower house ofCongress is acongressional district. However, the termcongressional district has become synonymous in local parlance with 'representative district,' because, just like in the US, the word 'congress' (konggreso) has come to refer specifically to the lower house (theHouse of Representatives).
A legislative district, which has an average population of about 250,000 to 500,000, may be composed of:
(a.) an entire province,(b.) within a province, a group of municipalities and cities (sometimes even including independent and highly urbanized cities geographically located in the province),(c.) a single city,(d.) a group of geographically adjacent independent cities and independent municipalities (currently the only example is thePateros-Taguig, or(e.) a group ofbarangays within a city.
Each province is guaranteed at least one representative to the lower house, even though it may not come close to having the same population as other legislative districts. Only voters within each district are allowed to vote in the election for the member of the House of Representatives from that district.
From 1916 to 1935, the Philippines were divided into 12 senatorial districts, of which 11 elected two members each, for a total of 22 out of the 24 members of the upper house of Congress (theSenate). Since 1935 senators have been elected at large.
There are provincial districts for the purpose of electingSangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council) members, which follow the congressional district arrangement, except that independent and highly urbanized cities whose charters prevent them from electing provincial officials are excluded. Also, provinces that comprise a lone congressional district are divided into at least two provincial districts.
There are also city councilor districts for the purpose of electingSangguniang Panlungsod (City Council) members, which follow the congressional district arrangement. In cases where the city does not form two or more congressional districts by itself, it is divided into at least two city council districts.
Districts exist as administrative entities only in local government, with limited powers or responsibilities. Certain cities, such asManila,Iloilo andDavao, for administrative purposes, formally divide their jurisdictions into city districts composed of severalbarangays, but the extent of these district-level administrative powers vary. Several barangays (the lowest level of government) also have the word 'district' in their names – examples are those inJala-jala andZamboanga City. However, this is solely for the purpose of nomenclature, and does not imply a higher level of local government.
During Spanish and early American colonial rule, certain areas of the Philippines were designated as 'districts,' mainly those that had not been formally organized into provinces or incorporated into existing ones.In the American era, cities and municipalities were divided into city and municipal districts, which served as the lowest level of government before the creation of thebarangay.
Some cities and municipalities also extend the usage of the word 'district' to refer to certain areas, even without having any formal administrative purposes. Examples are the central business districts inNaga, Camarines Sur, andMakati.
The second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (LAU-1) in other countries is called apowiat. As of 2008, there are 379 powiat-level entities in Poland: 314 land counties and 65 city counties. For a complete alphabetical listing, seelist of counties in Poland.
Districts (distritos) are administrative divisions ofPortugal. They were mainly used as the jurisdiction areas for the civil governors, the government officials that represented locally theCentral Government. However, in 2011, the role of the civil governor wasde facto extinct (although notde jure), with the decision taken by the Government not to appoint new civil governors and to transfer its functions to other bodies. The district areas are now only used as the regional jurisdiction areas of some public bodies (like thePublic Security Police district commands) and some private entities (like the district associations and championships of football).
InRussia, districts are administrative and municipal divisions of thefederal subjects, as well as administrative divisions of larger cities ("city districts") which are commonly referenced asraion (Russian:Районы) andokrug (Russian:Округа) respectively.The term "district" is also used to refer to the type of administrative division of theSakha Republic—ulus (Russian:улус;Yakut:улуус). The Sakha Republic is administratively divided into five cities under the Republic's jurisdiction and 33 uluses. The law of the Sakha Republic establishes that the termsulus and "district" are equivalent.[11]
In historical context (for theRussian Empire), the term "district" is often used to refer touyezd.
A district (gu) is a subdivision of larger cities in South Korea. Smaller cities have no districts, whereas districts inSeoul and sixMetropolitan Cities are treated as a city in their own right.
Each of the districts is divided into divisions. These were originally based on the feudal counties, thekorale andrata. They were formerly known as 'D.R.O. Divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'. Later the D.R.O.s became 'Assistant Government Agents' and the Divisions were known as 'A.G.A. Divisions'. Currently, the Divisions are administered by a 'Divisional Secretary', and are known as a 'D.S. Divisions'. Rural D.S. Divisions are also administered by a 'Pradeshiya Sabha' (Sinhala for 'Regional Council'), which is elected.
Some municipalities in theKingdom of Sweden have divided their territory into smaller areas, which often are assigned an administrative board responsible for certain elements of municipal governance within their district. These areas take a variety of different Swedish names; however, "district" is usually the official English term for them. The term "borough" is sometimes used in unofficial contexts.
InSwitzerland, somecantons organize themselves into districts, while others dispense with districts and govern themselves at theWahlkreise (constituency or electoral district) level.
A district (amphoe) is a subdivision of aprovince (changwat) inThailand. Some provinces also contain minor districts (กิ่งอำเภอ), which are smaller than the average district.
InTurkey, a district (Turkish:ilçe) is an administrative subdivision of a province (Turkish:il). They are governed by a district governor/official (Kaymakam) appointed by the Ministry of the Interior, and a by the local population elected Mayor.[12] See alsoDistricts of Turkey.
InUkraine, districts (raions) second level of administrative division of Ukraine and are primarily the most common division of Ukrainian regions, as well as administrative divisions of larger cities ("city districts").
Districts are the most recognizable form of local government in large parts ofEngland. For those areas that retain two-tier local government, districts usually form the lower tier of that arrangement, withcounties forming the upper tier. Districts tend to have responsibility for a number of areas including:
Each district raises taxes from residents on behalf of itself, and the upper-tier authority through theCouncil Tax. It also raises income from business through thenon-domestic rates system, which is coordinated nationally.
Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. The councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom; for example, they have no responsibility for education, road-building or housing (although they do nominate members to the advisory Northern Ireland Housing Council).
Their functions include waste andrecycling services,leisure and community services,building control and local economic and cultural development. They are not planning authorities, but are consulted on some planning applications. The collection of rates (local tax) is handled by theRate Collection Agency.
There is no official use of the worddistrict inWales. The country is broken up into 22unitary authorities. However,district may be used informally for a whole or unofficial part of award in a city.
A constituency with a representative inCongress is acongressional district. Each state is organized into one or more such districts; the exact number within each state is based on themost recent census. Only voters within each district are allowed to vote in the election for the member of theHouse of Representatives from that district. Overall, there are 435 congressional districts in the United States; each has roughly 760,000 people, with some variance.
A constituency with a representative in a state legislature is alegislative district.
City councils that are not electedat-large may have constituencies called districts or wards.
The territory over which a federal court has jurisdiction is afederal judicial district. In more than half of the states, a federal judicial district is coextensive with the state. In other states there is more than one such district.
The United States also has many types ofspecial-purpose districts with limited powers of local government.School districts are the most common, but other types of districts includecommunity college districts, hospital districts, utility districts, irrigation districts, port districts, and public transit districts.
Many cities in the late 20th century adopted names fornon-governmental districts as a way of increasing the recognition and identity of these distinct areas and neighborhoods. Perhaps most apparently inLos Angeles, various areas and neighborhoods within the city are specified as districts. For instance,Hollywood is a district of Los Angeles, whereasBeverly Hills andWest Hollywood are independentincorporated cities, with their own governments and police departments. This can be confusing, as the difference between districts and neighboring cities is usually not readily apparent, for they all make up theGreater Los Angeles area. Typically, districts may or may not be distinguished at the boundary of the district with a "district sign" with the city's insignia; whereas at a city boundary, acity limit sign would usually be placed on the street with the city's name and population, at a minimum, but also often includes itselevation. The important distinction is that areas classified as districts are still part of the parent city and governed by the laws and ordinances of that city.
In the United States,public utility districts (PUD) have similar functions to municipal utility districts, but are created by a local government body such as a city or county, and have no authority to levy taxes. They providepublic utilities to the residents of that district.[15]
PUDs are created by alocal government body, such as acity,county, ormetropolitan service area (two or more communities joining together for public utility purposes). Normally the districts arenon-profit.[16] PUDs are often governed by acommission, which may be appointed orelected.
The termdistrict in Vietnam refers to the second-level administrative unit, below provinces (tỉnh) and municipalities (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương). This second level unit is called ahuyện (counties) in rural areas, while in urban areas districts are eitherquận (subdivisions of municipalities),Thành phố trực thuộc tỉnh (provincial cities) orthị xã (towns). As of 22 April 2020,[update] Vietnam had 707 "districts" including 77 provincial cities, 52 towns, 49 urban subdivisions, and 529 rural districts/counties (including 12 island districts/counties).[citation needed]
Vietnamese districts vary significantly in both population and area. Excluding the island districts, the most populous is Biên Hoà (provincial city) with 1,099,943 people; the least populous is the town of Mường Lay (12,125). Similarly, the largest district is Tương Dương (2,812.07 km2) while the smallest is Cồn Cỏ with an area of only 2.3 km2.[citation needed]
^"About Us".Cypress Forest Public Utility. Retrieved24 July 2015.
^Slechta, Alfred F.; Culp, Gordon L. (1967). "Water reclamation studies at the South Tahoe public utility district".Water Pollution Control Federation:787–814.
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