Amphoe
A
amphoe (sometimes also
amphur, ) is the second level administrative subdivision of
Thailand. Usually translated as
district, amphoe make up the
provinces. Amphoe are further subdivided into
tambon.
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District of Office of Kanchanadit, Surat Thani |
Altogether Thailand has 796 districts and 80 minor districts (
King Amphoe, กิ่งอำเภอ). The
50 districts of
Bangkok are called
khet (เขต), but even in official documents are sometimes misnamed as amphoe, the term used before the Bangkok administration reform in
1972. The number of amphoe in a province differs, from only 3 in the smallest provinces up to the 50 urban districts of
Bangkok. Also the sizes and population of the amphoe differs, the lowest population is in
King Amphoe Ko Kut (
Trat Province) with just 2042 citizens, while
Amphoe Mueang Samut Prakan (
Samut Prakan Province) has 435,122 citizens. Areawise the khet of Bangkok are the smallest - Khet
Samphanthawong is the smallest with only 1.4
km² - while the amphoe of the low populated mountain regions are bigger than some provinces -
Amphoe Umphang (
Tak Province) with 4,325.4 km² is the largest and also has the lowest population density.
The names of the Amphoe are usually unique, in a few cases different Thai names have the same name in English due to the flaws of the
romanization. The notable exception is however the name
Amphoe Chaloem Phra Kiat, which was given to five districts created in
1996 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of King
Bhumibol Adulyadej ascension to the throne.
Chaloem Phra Kiat (Thai: เฉลิมพระเกียรติ) is a honorific way of addressing a member of the royal family.
The districts are led by a District Chief Officer (Nai Amphoe, นายอำเภอ), which is appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. The officer is a subordinate of the provincial governor.
The district around the capital of the province is the
Amphoe Mueang (town district), which should not be confused with the capital town itself, which is a different administrative entity usually much smaller than the district. The notable exception is Ayutthaya, where the capital district is named
Amphoe Phra Nakhon Ayutthaya, same as the province which is fully named
Phra Nakhon Ayutthaya.
There are four districts (
Chan,
Pan,
Suang,
Yang) in which have the term
Mueang as part of the name as well, even though they are not a capital district.
Minor districts are set up when the administration of areas remote to the district center gets too uncomfortable for the citizen. The minor districts is led by a chief officer (Huana King Amphoe, หัวหน้ากิ่งอำเภอ). Most of the tasks of the Amphoe are transferred to the King Amphoe, however it is still partially a subordinate of the Amphoe it was created from. Once the King Amphoe meets the necessary qualifications to become an Amphoe they are usually promoted. However not every newly created Amphoe has to be a King Amphoe before, if the qualifications are met directly this phase is skipped.
The qualification necessary is a population of at least 30,000 people and at least 5
tambon, or if the area is located more than 25 km away from the district office a population of at least 15,000 and 4
tambon.
The administration of the district is housed in an office building called
Thiwagan Amphoe (ทีว่าการอำเภอ), which also marks the center of each district. Distances on road signs are always calculated till this office building. The office is usually located in the largest settlement of the district, to make it easily reachable for the majority of the population - one of the tasks of the Amphoe is the
civil registry, which makes the district the most important of the administrative levels for the general Thai people.
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Subdivisions of Thailand
