Acounty (Latin:comitatus) is a geographicregion of a country used for administrative or other purposes[1] in some nations. The term is derived from theOld Frenchcomté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of acount (earl) or, in his stead, aviscount (vicomte).[2] Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, includingcomté,contea,contado,comtat,condado,Grafschaft,graafschap, andzhupa inSlavic languages; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.
Examples include the United States and Canada, which evolved from British colonial North America and inherited British governmental traditions, where counties often remain as local administrative divisions that evolved from historic (pre-federal) counties governed by courts/magistracy.
A county may be further subdivided into smaller jurisdictions such ashundreds, ortownships. A county usually, but not always, contains cities, towns,townships,villages, or othermunicipal corporations, which in most cases are somewhat subordinate or dependent upon county governments. Depending on the nation,municipality, and local geography, municipalities may or may not be subject to direct or indirect county control. The functions of both levels are often consolidated into a city government when the area is densely populated, and are generally not when it is less densely populated.[a]
OutsideEnglish-speaking countries, an equivalent of the termcounty is often used to describe subnational jurisdictions that are structurally equivalent to counties in the relationship they have with their national government;[b] but which may not be administratively equivalent to counties in predominantly English-speaking countries.
Counties are the current second-level political division in Kenya. Each county has an assembly where members of the county assembly (MCAs) sit. This assembly is headed by a governor. Each county is also represented in theSenate of Kenya by a senator. Additionally, a women's representative is elected from each county to theParliament of Kenya to represent women's interests. Counties replacedprovinces as the second-level division after the promulgation of the 2010Constitution of Kenya.
There are 1,464 so-named "counties" out of 2,862 county-level divisions in the PRC, and the number of counties has remained more or less constant since theHan dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). It remains one of the oldest titles of local-level government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in theYuan dynasty (1279–1368). The county government was particularly important inimperial China because this was the lowest level at which the imperial government is functionally involved, while below it the local people are managed predominantly by thegentries. The head of a county government during imperial China was themagistrate, who was often a newly ascendedjinshi.
In older context,district was an older English translation ofxiàn before the establishment of theRepublic of China (ROC). The English nomenclaturecounty was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. In addition,provincial cities have the same level of authority as counties. Above county, there arespecial municipalities (in effect) and province (suspended due to economical and political reasons). There are currently 13 counties in theROC-controlled territories.
During most of the imperial era, there were no concepts like municipalities in China. All cities existed within counties,commanderies, prefectures, etc., and had no governments of their own.[5] Large cities (must be imperial capitals or seats of prefectures) could be divided and administered by two or three counties. Such counties are called 倚郭縣 (yǐguō xiàn, 'county leaning on the city walls') or附郭縣 (fùguō xiàn, 'county attached to the city walls'). Theyamen or governmental houses of these counties exist in the same city. In other words, they share one county town. In this sense, ayǐguō xiàn orfùguō xiàn is similar to a district of a city.
For example, the city ofGuangzhou (seat of the eponymous prefecture, also known asCanton in the Western world) was historically divided byNanhai County (南海縣) andPanyu County (番禺縣). When the first modern city government in China was established in Guangzhou, the urban area was separated from these two counties, with the rural areas left in the remaining parts of them. However, the county governments remained in the city for years, before moving into the respective counties. Similar processes happened in many Chinese cities.
Nowadays, most counties in mainland China, i.e. with "Xian" in their titles, are administered byprefecture-level cities and have mainly agricultural economies and rural populations.
Regency (kabupaten) in Indonesia is an administrative unit under a province that is equivalent to a city. A regency is headed by a regent who is directly elected by the people, and is responsible for public services such as education, health, and infrastructure. The structure of a regency includes several districts (kecamatan) which are further divided into villages or ward. Regency in Indonesia is similar to the concept of "county" in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, but with differences in cultural context and government system. Indonesia has more than 400 regencies spread across all provinces.
Theostans (provinces) ofIran are further subdivided into counties calledshahrestān (Persian:شهرستان). County consists of a city centre, a fewbakhsh (Persian:بخش), and many villages around them. There are usually a few cities (Persian:شهر,shahar) and rural agglomerations (Persian:دهستان,dehestān) 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.
Eachshahrestān has a government office known asfarmândâri (فرمانداری), which coordinates different events and government offices. Thefarmândârفرماندار, or the head offarmândâri, is the governor of theshahrestān.
Fars province has the highest number ofshahrestāns, with 36, whileQom uniquely has one, beingcoextensive with itsnamesake county. Iran had 324shahrestāns in 2005 and 443 in 2021.
County is the common English translation for thecharacter군 (gun orkun) that denotes the current second level political division inSouth Korea. InNorth Korea, the county is one type of municipal-level division.
Denmark was divided into counties (Danish:amter) from 1662 to 2006. On 1 January 2007 the counties were replaced by fiveRegions. At the same time, the number of municipalities was slashed to 98.
The counties were first introduced in 1662, replacing the 49 fiefs (len) inDenmark–Norway with the same number of counties. This number does not include the subdivisions of theDuchy of Schleswig, which was only under partial Danish control. The number of counties in Denmark (excluding Norway) had dropped to around 20 by 1793. Following the reunification ofSouth Jutland with Denmark in 1920, four counties replaced thePrussianKreise.Aabenraa andSønderborg County merged in 1932 andSkanderborg andAarhus were separated in 1942. From 1942 to 1970, the number stayed at 22.[6] The number was further decreased by the 1970 Danish municipal reform, leaving 14 counties plus two cities unconnected to the county structure;Copenhagen andFrederiksberg.
In 2003,Bornholm County merged with the local five municipalities, forming theBornholm Regional Municipality. The remaining 13 counties were abolished on 1 January 2007 where they were replaced by five new regions. In the same reform, the number of municipalities was slashed from 270 to 98 and all municipalities now belong to a region.
Acomté was a territory ruled by acount (comte) in medieval France. In modern France, the rough equivalent of a county as used in many English-speaking countries is adepartment (département). Ninety-six departments are inmetropolitan France, and five areoverseas departments, which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334arrondissements, but these have no autonomy; they are the basis of local organisation of police, fire departments and, sometimes, administration of elections.
German districts, and district-free cities (yellow) as of 2016
Each administrative district consists of an elected council and an executive, and whose duties are comparable to those of a county executive in the United States, supervising local government administration. Historically, counties in theHoly Roman Empire were calledGrafschaften.The majority of German districts are "rural districts"[7] (German:Landkreise), of which there are 294 as of 2017[update]. Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to a district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept ofindependent cities and there are 107 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 401.[8]
The administrative unit ofHungary is calledvármegye (between 1950 and 2022 they were calledmegye, historically alsocomitatus inLatin), which can be translated with the wordcounty. The two names are used interchangeably ('megye' used in common parlance, and when referring to the counties of other states), just like before 1950, when the word 'megye' even appeared in legal texts. The 19 counties constitute the highest level of the administrative subdivisions of the country together with the capital city Budapest, although counties and the capital are grouped into seven statistical regions.
Counties are subdivided into districts (járás) and municipalities, the two types of which are towns (város) and villages (község), each one having their own elected mayor and council. 23 of the towns have the rights of a county although they do not form independent territorial units equal to counties.
Thevármegye was also the historic administrative unit in theKingdom of Hungary, which included areas of present-day neighbouring countries of Hungary. Its Latin name (comitatus) is the equivalent of the Frenchcomté. Actual political and administrative role of counties changed much through history. Originally they were subdivisions of the royal administration, but from the 13th century they became self-governments of the nobles and kept this character until the 19th century when in turn they became modern local governments.
These counties are traditionally grouped intofour provinces:Leinster (12 counties),Munster (6),Connacht (5) andUlster (9). Historically, the counties ofMeath andWestmeath and small parts of surrounding counties constituted the province ofMide, which was one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland (in the Irish language the word for province,cúige, means 'a fifth': fromcúig, 'five'); however, these have long since been absorbed into Leinster. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "county council", and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance.
The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990s. For example,County Dublin was divided into three:Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown,Fingal, andSouth Dublin; theCity of Dublin had existed for centuries before. The cities ofCork andGalway have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. The cities ofLimerick andWaterford were merged with their respective counties in 2014. Thus, the Republic of Ireland now has 31 'county-level' authorities, although the borders of the original twenty-six counties are still officially in place.[9]
In Northern Ireland, the six county councils and the smaller town councils were abolished in 1973 and replaced by a single tier of local government. However, in the north as well as in the south, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage for many sporting, cultural and other purposes. County identity is heavily reinforced in the local culture by allegiances to county teams inhurling andGaelic football. EachGaelic Athletic Association county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See thecounties of Ireland and theGaelic Athletic Association.
InItaly the wordcounty is not used; the administrative sub-division of a region is calledprovincia.Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative subdivisions calledcomuni ('communes'). There are currently 110 provinces in Italy.
In the context of pre-modern Italy, the Italian wordcontado generally refers to the countryside surrounding, and controlled by, the city state. Thecontado provided natural resources and agricultural products to sustain the urban population. In contemporary usage,contado can refer to a metropolitan area, and in some cases large rural/suburban regions providing resources to distant cities.[10]
Apskritis (pluralapskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county.
Norway has been divided into 11counties (Bokmål:fylker,Nynorsk:fylke; singular:fylke) since 2020; they previously numbered 19 following a local government reform in 1972. Until that yearBergen was a separate county, but today it is amunicipality within the county ofVestland. All counties form administrative entities called county municipalities (fylkeskommuner orfylkeskommunar; singular:fylkeskommune), further subdivided intomunicipalities (kommuner orkommunar; singular:kommune). One county,Oslo, is not divided into municipalities, rather it is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo.
Each county has its owncounty council (fylkesting) whose representatives are elected every four years together with representatives to themunicipal councils. The counties handle matters such as high schools and local roads, and until 1 January 2002 hospitals as well. This last responsibility was transferred to the state-runhealth authorities andhealth trusts, and there is a debate on the future of the county municipality as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as theConservative andProgress Party, call for the abolition of the county municipalities once and for all, while others, including theLabour Party, merely want to merge some of them into larger regions.
The territorial administration of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of subdivision. The country is divided intovoivodeships (provinces); these are further divided intopowiats. The termpowiat is often translated into English ascounty (or sometimesdistrict). In historical contexts this may be confusing because the Polish termhrabstwo (a territorial unit administered/owned by ahrabia,count) is also literally translated as "county" and it was subordinated underpowiat.
The 380 county-level entities in Poland include 314 "land counties" (powiaty ziemskie) and the 66 "city counties" (miasta na prawach powiatu orpowiaty grodzkie)powiat. They are subdivisions of the 16voivodeship, and are further subdivided into 2,477gminas (also called commune ormunicipality).[11][12]
The Swedish division into counties,län, which literally means 'fief', was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division intoprovinces;Sweden is divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities (kommuner). At the county level there is acounty administrative board led by a governor appointed by the centralgovernment of Sweden, as well as an electedcounty council that handles a separate set of issues, notablyhospitals andpublic transportation for themunicipalities within its borders. The counties and their expanse have changed several times, most recently in 1998.
Every county council corresponds to a county with a number of municipalities per county. County councils and municipalities have different roles and separate responsibilities relating to local government. Health care, public transport and certain cultural institutions are administered by county councils while general education, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care and rescue services are administered by the municipalities.Gotland is a special case of being a county council with only one municipality and the functions of county council and municipality are performed by the same organisation.[13]
In Ukraine the county (Ukrainian:повіт,romanized: povit) was introduced in Ukrainian territories under Poland in the second half of the 14th century, and in the eighteenth century under theRussian Empire in theCossack Hetmanate,Sloboda Ukraine,Southern Ukraine, andRight-Bank Ukraine.[14] In 1913 there were 126 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited territories of the Russian Empire.[14] Under theAustrian Empire in 1914 there were 59 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited Galicia, 34 inTranscarpathia, and 10 inBukovina.[14] Counties were retained by the independentUkrainian People's Republic of 1917–1921, and in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania until the Soviet annexations at the start of World War II. 99 counties formed theUkrainian SSR in 1919, where they were abolished in 1923–25 in favour of 53okruhas (in turn replaced byoblasts in 1930–32), although they existed in theZakarpattia Oblast until 1953.[14][15]
In 1965 and 1974–1975, major reorganisations of local government in England and Wales created several new administrative counties such asHereford and Worcester (abolished again in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire) and also created several newmetropolitan counties based on large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In Scotland, county-level local government was replaced by largerregions, which lasted until 1996. Modern local government in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is trending towards smaller unitary authorities: a system similar to that proposed in the 1960s by theRedcliffe-Maud Report for most of Britain.
The name "county" was introduced by theNormans, and was derived from a Norman term for an area administered by aCount (lord). These Norman "counties" were simply the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, includingEssex,Sussex andKent, predate the unification of England byAlfred the Great, and were originally more or less independent kingdoms (although the most important Saxon Kingdom on the island of Britain, Alfred's ownWessex, no longer survives in any form).
In England, in theAnglo-Saxon period,shires were established as areas used for the raising oftaxes, and usually had a fortified town at their centre. This became known as theshire town or later thecounty town. In many cases, the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedfordshire), but there are several exceptions, such asCumberland,Norfolk andSuffolk. In several other cases, such asBuckinghamshire, the modern county town is different from the town after which the shire is named. (SeeToponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom)
Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run bycounty councils and are divided intonon-metropolitan districts, each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions.
Until 1974, the county boundaries of England changed little over time. In themedieval period, a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right, such asLondon,Bristol andCoventry, and numerous smallexclaves such asIslandshire were created. In 1844, most of these exclaves were transferred to their surrounding counties.
InNorthern Ireland, the six county councils, if not their counties, were abolished in 1973 and replaced by 26 local government districts. The traditional six counties remain in common everyday use for many cultural and other purposes.
Historic counties of WalesCounties in Scotland at the time of their 1975 abolishment
The thirteenhistoric counties of Wales were fixed by statute in 1539 (although counties such asPembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of theshires of Scotland are of at least this age. The Welsh word for county issir which is derived from the English 'shire'.[16] The word is officially used to signify counties in Wales.[17] In the Gaelic form, Scottish traditional county names are generally distinguished by the designationsiorramachd—literally "sheriffdom", e.g.Siorramachd Earra-ghaidheal (Argyllshire). This term corresponds to the jurisdiction of the sheriff in the Scottish legal system.
Acounty inAlberta used to be a type of designation in a single-tier municipal system; but this was nominally changed to "municipal district" under theMunicipal Government Act, when theCounty Act was repealed in the mid-1990s. However, at the time the new "municipal districts" were also permitted to retain the usage ofcounty in their official names.[18]
As a result, in Alberta, the termcounty is synonymous with the termmunicipal district – it is not its own incorporated municipal status that is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to change to acounty in their official names, but some have chosen to hold out with themunicipal district title. The vast majority of "municipal districts" in Alberta are counties.
British Columbia hascounties for the purposes of its justice system but otherwise they hold no governmental function. For the provision of all other governmental services, the province is divided intoregional districts that form the upper tier, which are further subdivided intolocal municipalities that are partly autonomous, andunincorporatedelectoral areas that are governed directly by the regional districts.
The province ofManitoba was divided intocounties; however, these counties were abolished in 1890. Manitoba is divided into rural municipalities, which do not overlap with urban municipalities.
The counties ofNew Brunswick were upper-tier governance units until the municipal reform of 1967; they were also used as electoral districts until 1973. They remain in use ascensusdivisions byStatistics Canada and by locals as geographic identifiers. The Territorial Division Act defining them remains in effect; their subdivisions are calledparishes; their government centres are calledShiretowns.
TheNorthwest Territories are divided into regions; however, these regions only serve to streamline the delivery of territorial governmental services, and have no government of their own.
Nunavut is divided into regions; however, these regions only serve to streamline the delivery of territorial governmental services, and have no government of their own.
Ontario has a two-tier system of local government in which counties are upper tier municipalities.
The primary administrativedivision ofSouthern Ontario is its 22 counties, which are upper-tier local governments providing limited municipal services to rural and moderately dense areas—within them, there are a variety of lower-tier towns, cities, villages, etc. that provide most municipal services. This contrasts with Northern Ontario's 10 districts, which are geographic divisions but not local governments—although some towns, etc. are within them that are local governments, the low population densities and much larger area have significant impacts on how government is organized and operates. In both Northern and Southern Ontario, urban densities in cities are one of two other local structures:regional municipalities (restructured former counties which are also upper tiers) or single-tier municipalities.
Quebec has a two-tier system of local government in which counties are upper tier municipalities. Quebec's counties are more properly called "Regional County Municipalities" (municipalités régionales de comté). The province'sformer counties proper were supplanted in the early 1980s.
Saskatchewan is divided into rural and urban municipalities, which do not overlap. Saskatchewan does not have any second-level administrative subdivision between the provincial government and the municipalities.
Forty-seven of the 50 U.S. states use the term "county", while Alaska, Connecticut, and Louisiana use the terms "borough", "planning region", and "parish", respectively, for analogous jurisdictions. Aconsolidated city-county, such as theCity and County of San Francisco, is formed when a city and county merge into one unified jurisdiction. Conversely,independent cities, includingBaltimore,St. Louis,Carson City, and all cities inVirginia, legally belong to no county, i.e. no county even nominally exists in those places compared to a consolidated city-county where a county does legally exist in some form.Washington, D.C., is known as afederal city because it is outside the jurisdiction of any state; the U.S. Census Bureau treats it as a single county equivalent.[19]
The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. They are generally the intermediate tier of state government, between the statewide tier and the immediately local government tier (typically a city, town/borough, or village/township). Some of the governmental functions that a county may offer include judiciary, county prisons, land registration, enforcement of building codes, and federally mandated services programs. Depending on the individual state, counties or their equivalents may be administratively subdivided intotownships,boroughs or boros, ortowns (in theNew England states,New York, andWisconsin).
New York City is a special case where the city is made up offive boroughs, each of which is territorially coterminous with acounty, though not always with an identical name. The Bronx is Bronx County, Brooklyn is Kings County, Manhattan is New York County, Queens is Queens County, and Staten Island is Richmond County. In the context of city government, the boroughs are subdivisions of the city but are still called "county" where county function is involved, e.g., "New York County Courthouse".
County governments inRhode Island andConnecticut have been completely abolished but the entities remain for administrative and statistical purposes in Rhode Island, while Connecticut has replaced them with planning regions served by councils of municipal governments. Alaska's 323,440-square-mile (837,700 km2)Unorganized Borough also has no county equivalent government, but the U.S. Census Bureau further divides it into statistical county equivalent subdivisions calledcensus areas.[19]Massachusetts eliminated county governments in 8 of its 14 counties.[20][21]
Today, 3,142 counties and county equivalents carve up the United States, ranging in number from 3 forDelaware to 254 forTexas. The areas of each county also vary widely between the states. For example, the territorially medium-sized state ofPennsylvania has 67 counties delineated in geographically convenient ways.[22] By way of contrast,Massachusetts, with far less territory, has massively sized counties in comparison even to Pennsylvania's largest,[c] yet each organizes their judicial and incarceration officials similarly.
Most counties have acounty seat: a city, town, or other named place where its administrative functions are centered. SomeNew England states use the termshire town to mean "county seat". A handful of counties likeHarrison County, Mississippi have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county, dating back from the days when travel was difficult. In Virginia, where all cities are independent, some double as county seats despite not being part of a county. Notable examples include the independentCity of Fairfax serving as the seat ofFairfax County andSalem serving as the county seat ofRoanoke County.
After New Zealand abolished itsprovinces in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989. They had chairmen, not mayors asboroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such asburial andland subdivision control) were different for the counties.
During the second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into adistrict (e.g.Rotorua) or a change of name to eitherdistrict (e.g. Waimairi) orcity (e.g.Manukau City).
TheLocal Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for theChatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".
^The larger the population center, and the denser the population, the more likely it is to have assumed and subsumed county level functions; normally under a special bill passed by the cognizant legislative body.[citation needed]
^National governments that are Federations, such as Germany have subdivisions similar to the English Counties in size. France has regions and departements which similarly provide governmental services. Which services are mapped to which governmental offices, level or officials is the province of the national constitution and legislative body.[citation needed]
^e.g. Westmoreland, Washington in western Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
^There were exceptions in theJīn andYuan dynasties, when cities were separated from counties and independently administered by institutions like録事司 (lù shi sī) and司候司 (sī hòu sī).
