Thesubdivisions of Portugal are based on a complex administrative structure. The second-leveladministrative division, after the 7regions and 2autonomous regions, is 308municipalities (concelhos) which are further subdivided into 3091civil parishes (freguesias).
| Subdivision | Total | Mainland | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regions | 7 | 7 | Territorial divisions of the continental unitary state |
| Autonomous Regions | 2 | 0 | Sub-territorial divisions comprising Azores and Madeira |
| Subregions | 25 | 23 | Autonomous and sub-regional co-ordination commissions (CCDR) |
| Municipalities | 308 | 278 | Municipal authorities |
| Civil Parishes[2] | 3091 | 2882 | Local area authorities |
In Portugal, urban centers (cities, towns and hamlets) have no legal authority and are social constructs based on a series of institutional functions. In fact, administrative power lies within the extraterritorial municipalities and parishes. These have authority in the constitution and may include varioustowns within each territory and may have their own constituent assemblies and executives. The town or city, generally, does not correspond to the boundaries of variousmunicipalities, with the exception of the entirely urban municipalities (such asLisbon,Porto,Funchal,Amadora,Entroncamento andSão João da Madeira). The municipality with the most cities isParedes Municipality which contains four cities.
| Sub-division | Total | Mainland | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan areas[3] | 2 | 2 | Agglomerations of metropolitan or urban regions |
| Intermunicipal communities[3] | 21 | 21 | Association of municipal authorities for coordination |
| Cities | 151 | 141 | Population centres |
| Towns | 533 | 503 | Population centres |
| Sub-division | Total | Mainland | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Province (Medieval) | 6 | 6 | 1325 territorial administration instituted byAfonso IV |
| Province (1832) | 11 | 8 | 1823 reorganization attributed toMouzinho da Silveira |
| Province (1936) | 11 | 11 | 1936 reorganization based on nationalist geographer Amorim Girão |
| Districts | 18 | 18 | 1835 reorganization based on prefectures: phased-out in 20th century |
| Sub-division | Total | Mainland | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| NUTS 1: National | 3 | 1 | Continental Portugal, theAzores andMadeira |
| NUTS 2: Regions | 8 | 6 | Regional Coordination Commissions, and Autonomous Regions |
| NUTS 3: Subregion | 25 | 23 | Metropolitan areas, intermunicipal communities and autonomous regions |
| LAU 1: Municipal | 308 | 278 | Municipalities |
| LAU 2: Local | 3092 | 2882 | Civil Parishes |
| Sub-division | Total | Mainland | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postal codes | 9 | 8 | First-digit postal codes |
| Area codes | 51 | 48 | Telephone area codes |
Due to changes throughout history, the Portuguese unitary state has seen a continuous process of centralisation and de-centralisation, resulting in changes to the toponymy of various territorial divisions. Consequently, the many names have been appropriated at different levels to represent alterations to the geographic map of the country. This is particularly the case with the transitive period between the medieval provinces and 19th century Liberal reforms. Further, the influence of the Nationalist movement during the 20th century, resulted in the re-appearance of toponymic names long since abandoned.
The modern unitary state is influenced considerable by names passed between generations, and have been applied and re-applied, resulting in a historical ambiguity in the historical record, where one name may be used for two different areas. As is the case with the following examples:
Even between administrative level there several instances where the same name is used to represent a territorial division at the local, municipal or regional level.