Araion (also speltrayon) is a type of administrative unit of severalpost-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type ofsubnational entity and a division of acity. The word is from theFrenchrayon (meaning 'honeycomb, department'),^[1] and is commonly translated as 'district' in English.^[2]

A raion is a standardized administrative entity across most of the formerSoviet Union and is usually a subdivision two steps below the national level, such as a subdivision of anoblast. However, in smaller USSR republics, it could be the primary level of administrative division. After thefall of the Soviet Union, some of the republics kept theraion (e.g.Azerbaijan,Belarus,Ukraine,Russia,Moldova,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan) while others dropped it (e.g.Georgia,Uzbekistan,Estonia,Latvia,Armenia,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan).

InBulgaria, it refers to an internal administrative subdivision of a city not related to the administrative division of the country as a whole, or, in the case ofSofia municipality asubdivision of that municipality.^[3]

The wordraion is derived from Frenchrayon, which is itself derived fromFrankish *hrātu 'honeycomb'. It is used in many languages spanningCentral Europe toCentral Asia andSiberia. For instance,Azerbaijani:rayon;Belarusian:раён,romanized: rajon;Bulgarian:район,romanized: rajon;Georgian:რაიონი,romanized:raioni;German:Rayon;Ingrian:raijona;Latvian:rajons;Lithuanian:rajonas;Polish:rejon;Romanian:raion;Russian:район,romanized: raion;Turkish:reyon;Ukrainian:район,romanized: rajon;Uyghur:رايون,romanized: rayon; andYakut:оройуон,romanized: oroyuon.

Fourteen countries have or had entities that were named "raion" or the local version of it.

In theSoviet Union, raions were administrative divisions created in the 1920s to reduce the number of territorial divisions inherited from theRussian Empire and to simplify their bureaucracies.^[5] The process of conversion to the system of raions was calledraionirovanie ("regionalization"). It was started in 1923 in theUrals,North Caucasus, andSiberia as a part of the Soviet administrative reform and continued through 1929, by which time the majority of the country's territory was divided into raions instead of the oldvolosts anduyezds.^[5]

The concept ofraionirovanie was met with resistance in some republics, especially inUkraine, where local leaders objected to the concept of raions as being too centralized in nature and ignoring the local customs. This point of view was backed by the Soviet RussianPeople's Commissariat of Nationalities.^[5] Nevertheless, eventually all of the territory of the Soviet Union was regionalized.

Soviet raions had self-governance in the form of an electeddistrict council (raysovet) and were headed by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed.

Following the model of the Soviet Union, raions were introduced in Bulgaria and Romania. In China the term is used in Uyghur in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In Romania they have been later replaced.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, raions as administrative units continue to be used inAzerbaijan,Belarus,Moldova,Russia, andUkraine.

They are also used in breakaway regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria.

In Georgia they exist as districts in Tbilisi.

Abkhazia is divided into seven districts.

InBelarus, raions (Belarusian:раён, rajon^[6]) are administrative units subordinated tooblasts. See also:Category:Districts of Belarus.

InBulgaria, raions are subdivisions of three biggest cities:Sofia,Plovdiv andVarna. Sofia is subdivided to 24 raions (Sofia districts), Plovdiv - 6, Varna - 5 raions.

• Administrative divisions of Moldova

InUkraine, there are a total of 136 raions which are the administrative divisions ofoblasts (provinces) and theAutonomous Republic of Crimea.Major cities of regional significance as well as the two nationalcities with special status (Kyiv andSevastopol) are alsosubdivided into raions (constituting a total of 118 nationwide).

• 6 мая 2001 г. «Конституция Республики Тыва», в ред. Конституционного закона №1419 ВХ-2 от 10 июля 2009 г «О внесении изменений в статью 113 Конституции Республики Тыва». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Тувинская правда", 15 мая 2001 г. (May 6, 2001Constitution of the Tyva Republic, as amended by the Constitutional Law #1419 VKh-2 of July 10, 2009On Amending Article 113 of the Constitution of the Tyva Republic. Effective as of the official publication date.).