Municipality
A
municipality or "
general-purpose district" (compare with: "
special-purpose district") is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a
city,
town,
regional municipality or
village government.
Municipalities are not necessarily the same as
townships.
In most
countries, this is the smallest administrative subdivision to have its own
democratically elected representative leadership. In several European countries, municipalities as second-level entities are referred to as
communes.
*In
Algeria, a municipality (
commune) is part of a
daïra, which is part of a
wilaya*In
Australia, a municipality is a city or shire and is a subdivision of a
state *In
Austria, a municipality (
Gemeinde) is part of a
district (
Bezirk), which is in turn part of a
state (
Bundesland).
*In
Belgium, a municipality (
gemeente/commune) is either part of a province (
provincie/province) or of the
Brussels Capital Region*In
Bosnia and Herzegovina, a municipality (
općina or
opština) is
** part of a canton (
kanton)
** a subdivision (grouped in
regions)
*In
Brazil, a municipality (
município) is part of a state (
estado)
*In
Canada, a municipality is a city, town, township, county, or regional municipality which has been incorporated by
statute by the legislatures of the
Provinces and territories of Canada. It is also a specific designation for certain municipalities in
Quebec ,
Nova Scotia and
Ontario. Certain areas of
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba are designated as
rural municipalities, while equivalent areas in
Alberta are designated as
municipal districts.
*In
Chile, a municipality (
comuna) is part of a province (
provincia)
*In
Colombia, a municipality (
municipio) is part of a department (
departamento). It also subdivided into
Corregimientos and
Veredas.
*In
Croatia, a municipality (
općina) is part of a county (
županija)
*In the
Czech Republic, a municipality (
obec) is part of a
district (
okres)
*In
Denmark, a municipality (
kommune) is part of a county (
amt)
*In
Finland, a municipality (
kunta) co-operates with municipalities nearby in a sub-region (
seutukunta) and region (
maakunta); a region belongs to a province (
lääni) of the state. A municipality can freely call itself a "city" (
kaupunki).
*In
France, a municipality (
commune) is part of a department (
département) which is part of a region (
région)
*In
Germany, a municipality (
Gemeinde) is part of a district (
Kreis). Larger entities of the same level are called towns (
Stadt).
*In
Greece, a municipality is either an urban
demoi or rural
koinotetes which is then part of a
prefecture (
nomos) and then a larger region known as a
periphery.
*In
Hungary, a municipality (
települési önkormányzat) is part of a county (
megye).
*In
Italy, a municipality (
comune) is part of a province (
provincia) which is part of a region (
regione).
*In
Japan, a municipality is the sphere of government within the prefectures, the sub-division of the state.
*In
Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12
Parishes into which it is subdivided.
*In
Mexico, a municipality (
municipio) is a subdivision of a state (
estado) and a borogh (
delegación) is a subdivision of the
Federal District (see
municipalities of Mexico and
Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District).
*In the
Netherlands, a municipality (
gemeente) is part of a province (
provincie).
*Every part of mainland
New Zealand is part of either a "city" (mostly urban) or a "district" (mostly rural). The term "municipality" has become rare in New Zealand since about 1979 and has no legal status.
*In
Norway, a municipality (
kommune) is part of a county (
fylke)
*In the
Philippines, a municipality (
bayan) is part of a province (
lalawigan) and is composed of
barangays.
*In
Poland, a municipality (
gmina) is a part of a county (
powiat).
*In
Portugal, a municipality (
município) is subdivision of a district (
distritos).
*In
Puerto Rico, a municipality (
municipio) is a city. Each municipality has an elected mayor.
*In
Romania, a municipality (
municipiu) is a town or a city ranked by law at this level. See
Municipality in Romania for more information.
*In
Serbia, a municipality (
opština) is part of a county (
okrug)
*In
Slovakia, a municipality (
obec) is part of a
district (
okres)
*In
South Africa,
district municipalities and
metropolitan municipalities are subdivisions of the
provinces, and
local municipalities are subdivisions of district municipalities.
*In
Sweden, a municipality (
kommun) is part of a county (
län).
*In
Switzerland, a municipality (
commune/Gemeinde/comune) is part of a canton (
canton/Kanton/cantone) and defined by cantonal law.
*In the
United States, the entities that have status as a municipality vary from
state to state. Cities, towns,
boroughs, or villages are common terms for municipalities. Townships, counties, and
parishes are not generally considered to be municipalities, although there are exceptions. In some states, towns have a non-municipal status similar to townships.
*In
Venezuela, a municipality (
municipio) is part of a state, as well as a subdivison of the
Capital District (
estado).
*In the
People's Republic of China, a
direct-controlled municipality (直辖市 in
pinyin: zhíxiáshì) is a
city with equal status to a
province:
Beijing,
Tianjin,
Shanghai, and
Chongqing (see
Municipality of China)
*In the
Republic of China on
Taiwan, a municipality (直轄市 in
Wade-Giles:
chi-hsia-shih) is a city with equal status to a province:
Taipei and
Kaohsiung. (see
Municipality of China)
* In
Macedonia, 84 municipalities (
opštini; singular:
opština) were established in 2004, reduced from 123 created in 1996.
*In
Portugal, a municipality (
município/
concelho) is the primary
local administrative unit. Although it is a part of a district (
distrito) for certain national administrative purposes, the municipality is not subordinate to the district and decentralization is doing away with the districts. A municipality contains one or more
freguesias.
*In
Puerto Rico, there are no first order administrative divisions, and the municipalities (
municipio) serves as second-order, but first level, administrative divisions.
*In
Montenegro, a municipality (
opština) is the topmost regional division
*
Municipalities of Libya, some very large.
*In
Slovenia, a municipality (
občina) is the primary
local administrative unit. There are 193 of them, 11 of which have a special "Urban" status with additional autonomy.
*In
Spain, a municipality (
municipio) is the primary
local administrative unit. It is a part of a province (
provincia) for all national administrative purposes. A municipality contains one or more
parroquias. In the Galicia region, the municipalities are called
concellos.
*
:Category:Lists of municipalities (with lists for countries)
*
Administrative division*
Council-manager government*
Mayor*
Mayor-council government*
Muni*
Municipal government*
Municipal services*
Political science*
Special-purpose district*
Full list of European Municipalities
