Administrative division is a generic term for an administrative region within a country — on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state — typically with a local government encompassing multiple municipalities, counties, or provinces with a certain degree of autonomy.

In contexts of statistical ranking and comparability, the term statoid is sometimes used.

Administrative divisions are conceptually separate from dependent areas, in that the former are included in the core or mainland of the respective state.

Administrative divisions are distinguished from political divisions, as the former are entirely contained within a sovereign state.

Examples

Terms used in English-speaking countries

• Area
• Barangay (Philippines)
• Urban
  • Borough
  • Burgh
  • City
  • Town
  • Township
  • Village
• County
• Despotate (not subnational)
• District
• Division (sub-national)
• Duchy (partial subnational)
• Empire (not subnational)
• Kingdom
• Local council
• Municipality
  • rural municipality
  • regional municipality
  • regional county municipality
• Parish
• Prefecture
• Principality (partial subnational)
• Province
• Region
• Republic (partial subnational)
• Indigenous:
  • Indian reserve
  • Reservation
  • First Nation
  • Band
• Electoral:
  • Riding
  • Electoral district
  • Constituency
• State (sub-national)
• Subdivision
• Territory

Native terms

Translation into English sometimes is difficult.

Compare:

• Country (a national or supra-national entity)
• Empire (a supra-national entity)
• State (a national or supra-national entity)

See also

• ISO 3166-2 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 2
• List of terms for subnational entities
• List of subnational entities by country
• List of capitals of subnational entities
• List of subnational name etymologies
• List of the most populous subnational entities
• List of the largest subnational entities by area
• Lists of unofficial regions by country

External link

• United Nations' Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) dataset

Subnational entities | Subdivisions by country

Circumscripció territorial | Verwaltungseinheit | Entidad subnacional | Administration territoriale | Administracinis vienetas | 行政区画 | Entidade subnacional | 行政区划