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A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. It is to be distinguished (usually) from the county, which may encompass rural territory or numerous small communities such as , and hamlets.
The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district.
The term is derived from French language municipalité and Latin language municipalis. The English language word municipality derives from the Latin social contract municipium (derived from a word meaning "duty holders"), referring to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy).
A municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, to a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York.
The territory over which a municipality has jurisdiction may encompass
|alt=A map with five insular regions of different colors.]] In various countries, municipalities are usually referred to as "", notably in Romance languages (derived from Latin) such as French (France, French-speaking areas of Belgium and Switzerland, French-speaking countries of Africa, e.g. Benin), Italian comune, Romanian , and Spanish (Chile), and in Germanic languages such as German (in political parlance, the official term being Gemeinde), Swedish , Faroese , and Norwegian, Danish kommune]]. However, in Moldova and Romania exist both municipalities ( municipiu; urban administrative units) and communes ( comună; rural units), and a commune may be part of a municipality (see more: communes of Moldova, communes of Romania).
Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad (cognate to "municipality"), Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish and Luxembourgish .
| Afghanistan | شاروالی یا شهرداری shārwāli (or shahr-dari) | Provinces of Afghanistan | 154 | 34 'provincial' municipalities of provincial capitals ( shārwāli) and 120 rural or 'district' municipalities ( shārwāli uluswāli) | www.km.gov.af | |
| Albania | bashki (urban) or komunë (rural) | 61 | Municipalities of Albania | |||
| Algeria | baladiyah | daïra (district), which is part of a wilaya (province) | 1,541 | Municipalities of Algeria | ||
| Andorra | parròquia | Sant Julià de Lòria | 7 | |||
| Argentina | municipalidad | Puerto Madryn | Provinces of Argentina, in some provinces they are a subdivision of departments | 2,100 | Smallest administrative division; either a city, town, or township | Municipalities of Argentina |
| Austria | Gemeinde | a state ( Bundesland). | 1,725 | The entire area of Austria is divided into municipalities, with no non-municipal gaps. This leads to some municipalities being very large despite having a small population. | Municipality (Austria) | |
| Bangladesh | Pouroshabha / Pouroshava | Upazila or subdistrict, which is in turn part of a district | 311 | Municipalities of Bangladesh | ||
| Belgium | gemeente/commune | Montigny-le-Tilleul | a province ( provincie/province) or of the Brussels-Capital Region | 581 | The provinces are themselves subdivisions of the Wallonia and Flemish Region Regions which have the authority over the municipalities | Municipalities in Belgium |
| Bolivia | municipio | Arani Municipality | province, which is part of a departamento. | 327 (2005) | Municipalities of Bolivia | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | općina or opština | in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina : of a canton ( kanton). In Republika Srpska, municipality is first order of government after entity government. | 144 | Municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
| Brazil | município | São Paulo (most populous), Borá (least populous) | states ( estados) | 5,570 | Smallest administrative subdivision. Not used in the Federal District or the Fernando de Noronha and St. Peter and St. Paul archipelagos, but encompasses all other territories nationwide | Municipalities of Brazil |
| Brunei | bandaran | Bandar Seri Begawan | 4 | Independent of subdivisions; nevertheless overlap with mukims and villages | Municipalities of Brunei | |
| Bulgaria | община, obshtina | Aksakovo Municipality | an oblast | 264 | Municipalities of Bulgaria | |
| Cambodia | ក្រុង (krong) | Phnom Penh | 1446 | |||
| Chile | municipalidad | Torres del Paine | provinces | 346 | Specifically the administrative body, while subdivisions are ; most municipalities administer one comuna each, but occasional municipalities administer more | |
| China | 直辖市 | Beijing | 4 | Status equal to a province | Municipalities of China | |
| Colombia | municipio | a department ( departamento) | 1,102 | It is also subdivided into Borough and Neighborhoods in urban municipalities and into and in rural municipalities | Municipalities of Colombia | |
| Costa Rica | Municipalidad | Province ( Provinces of Costa Rica) | Cantones of Costa Rica | |||
| Croatia | općina | county ( županija) | 428 | Municipalities of Croatia | ||
| Czech Republic | obec | Karlovy Vary | a kraj ( kraj) | 6250 | ||
| Denmark | kommune | Aabenraa Municipality | a region | 98 | Counties ( amter) were abandoned in 2007 | Municipalities of Denmark |
| Dominican Republic | municipio | province | Municipalities of the Dominican Republic | |||
| El Salvador | municipio | Zacatecoluca | departamentos | 262 | Municipalities of El Salvador | |
| Estonia | omavalitsus | Are vald (Are Parish) | county ( maakond) | 215 | Can be either towns ( linn) or parishes ( vald) | Municipalities of Estonia |
| Finland | kunta/ kommun | Helsinki | region | 311 | Can choose whether to call itself a "city" ( kaupunki). | Municipalities of Finland |
| France | commune | canton, which is part of an arrondissement, which is part of a department ( département) which is part of a region ( région) | 36,600 | |||
| Germany | Gemeinde | district ( Kreis, literally "Circle"). Larger entities of the same level are called Stadt, plural Städte (Cities resp. Towns), which can be part of a Kreis (they are kreisangehörig, meaning "belonging to a Circle") or constituting a district on its own ( kreisfrei, meaning "free of a Circle"). In less populated regions, small municipalities are often put together into consolidated superior municipalities ( Verbandsgemeinde, Samtgemeinde or Amtsgemeinde) | 12,013 | Municipalities of Germany | ||
| Georgia | munits'ipaliteti | 76 | self-governing towns/cities ( k'alak'i) and communities ( t'emi) | Municipalities of Georgia | ||
| Greece | demos (δήμος, pl. δήμοι) or koinoteta (κοινότητα, pl. κοινότητες) | 325 | Demoi and koinotetes are both considered municipalities; the latter are less populous | Municipalities and communities of Greece | ||
| Greenland | kommunea | Kujalleq | 4 | First-level administrative division | Municipalities of Greenland | |
| Haiti | commune | an arrondissement, which is part of a department ( département). | ||||
| Honduras | municipio | was in 1895 originally the subdivision of the district ( distrito), but as districts have fallen into disuse, it is now the subdivision of the department ( departamento). | 298 | Municipalities of Honduras | ||
| Hungary | település | a county ( megye). | 3,168 (in 2005) | |||
| Iceland | sveitarfélag | Reykjavík | Regions | 74 | The country's only self-governing local administrative units | Municipalities of Iceland |
| India | Sainthia | Excludes both villages and large cities; typically has more than twenty thousand residents, but cannot exceed five hundred thousand | Municipalities of India | |||
| Indonesia | Kabupaten (regency) or Kotamadya (city) | Provinces of Indonesia | List of regencies and cities of Indonesia | |||
| Iraq | Qadhaa | Al-Hamdaniya District | a district (Qadhaa) which is part of a Governorate (Region or Province, Arabic: Mouhafatha). | 130 | Second-level, below the governorate | Municipalities of Iraq |
| Israel | Iri'ya (עיריה, City Government), Moatsa (מועצה, Council) | Includes city councils (large municipalities), local councils (small municipalities), and regional councils (a group of communities; often rural) | ||||
| Italy | comune | a province ( provincia) which is part of a region ( regione). | 7,982 | Solely used for subdivisions of larger comuni, especially in Rome; municipio indicates the city hall; in some case, they are joined in mountain communities ( comunità montane)The law provides for the possibility of overlapping of the office of President of the mountain community with that of mayor of one of the municipalities of the community: | List of comuni of Italy | |
| Japan | 市町村
Shichoson | 1,719 | Below the prefecture; includes shi (cities), cho (towns), and son (villages) | Municipalities of Japan | ||
| Kenya | a municipality is one of four types of local authorities. Nearly 50 major towns are given the municipality status. | |||||
| Latvia | singular: novads, plural: novadi | Aglonas novads (Aglona Municipality) | 110 | A municipality normally consists of amalgamated parishes (singular: pagasts, plural: pagasti). | Municipalities of Latvia | |
| Lebanon | a district (Qadaa) which is part of a Governorate (Region or Province, Arabic: Mouhafazah). | |||||
| Libya | the municipality level is that of the Basic People's Congress. Large cities are subdivided. | Municipalities of Libya | ||||
| Lithuania | savivaldybė | Kalvarijos savivaldybė (Kalvarija Municipality) | a district ( apskritis) and is subdivided into elderates ( seniūnija). | Municipalities of Lithuania | ||
| Luxembourg | commune (in French); Gemeng, plur. Gemengen (in Luxembourgish) | part of a canton (Luxembourgish: Kantoun) which itself is part of a district | 105 | are the lowest divisions | ||
| North Macedonia | opština | Aračinovo Municipality | the country (top-level) or the City of Skopje | 84 (2004) | current set established in 2004, reduced from 123 created in 1996. | Municipalities of North Macedonia |
| Malta | Kunsill Lokali (Local Council) | Valletta | none | 68 | established 1993, one new council created since then (Mtarfa) | Local councils of Malta |
| Mauritius | a municipality: The administration of all the main towns in Mauritius is done by the municipality of the respective towns.Most of the towns are found in the district of Plaines Wilhems. The capital city, Port-Louis is managed by the Municipality of Port-Louis, found in the district of Port Louis. The other seven districts are administered by are called district councils. | |||||
| Mexico | municipio / delegación | Asientos Municipality | a state (estado) or the DF | 2,466 | a borough ( delegación) is a subdivision of the Federal District | Municipalities of Mexico and boroughs of the Mexican Federal District |
| Moldova | municipiu | Municipiul Chișinău | 32 | is a main city or town and surrounding villages ranked by law at this level. | Moldova#Administrative divisions | |
| Montenegro | opština | Andrijevica Municipality | the country (top-level) | Municipalities of Montenegro | ||
| Nepal | Nagarpalika | 58 (after the census in 2001) | a municipality is a town not large enough in population or infrastructure to qualify as a sub-metropolitan city. | |||
| Netherlands | gemeente | a province ( provincie) | 388 + 3 special municipalities | Municipalities in the Netherlands | ||
| New Zealand | a municipality 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. (See territorial authorities of New Zealand.) | |||||
| Nicaragua | municipio | a department ( departamento) or of one of the two Autonomous Regions, North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. | Municipalities of Nicaragua | |||
| Norway | kommune | Røyken kommune | a county ( fylke) | 430 (2009) | Municipalities of Norway | |
| Palestinian National Authority | 105 | municipalities are localities with populations over 4,000 and have 13-15 council members. | Municipality (Palestinian Authority) | |||
| Pakistan | of a tehsil/taluka or sub-district of a "district". | 149 | Local government in Pakistan | |||
| Paraguay | municipalidad | a departament ( departamento) | ||||
| Peru | municipio | a province ( provincia), which is part of a department ( departamento). As of 2002 a department is now called a region (región). | is another term for district ( distrito) and is the lower-level administrative subdivision. | |||
| Philippines | bayan or Municipio or Municipalidad | a province | is a town with a popularly elected administration including a mayor and is part of a province ( lalawigan or probinsya) (except for the independent municipality of Pateros, Metro Manila in the Metro Manila). Municipalities are not the smallest division of local government and are composed of . | |||
| Poland | gmina | Gmina Annopol | county ( powiat). | |||
| Portugal | concelho or concelho | Oeiras | District | 308 | Concelho is a directly elected local area authority generally consisting of a main city or town and surrounding villages, with wide-ranging local administration powers. Apart from the municipality of Corvo, however, municípios are not the smallest administrative unit in Portugal, that being the freguesia (civil parish). For central government purposes, Portuguese municipalities are grouped into districts ( distritos). In Portugal, a municipality ( município/ concelho) is the primary local administrative unit. Although 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 . | Municipalities of Portugal |
| Puerto Rico | municipio | municipality consists of an urban area (termed a city or town) plus all of its surrounding comprising the municipality. It has a popularly elected administration and a municipal mayor. The seat of the municipal government is located in such urban area and serves the entire municipal jurisdiction. Ayuda: Divulgación de Resultados de la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones – Municipio. Comision Estatal de Elecciones. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2004. Retrieved 6 December 2011. Autonomous Municipalities Law. (in Spanish) Retrieved 24 October 2011. | Municipalities of Puerto Rico | |||
| Romania | municipiu / oraș / comună | Deva | County ( județ) | 103 + 217 + 2856 | A Municipiu ( municipiu) is a special status given to cities which fulfill certain criteria related to size, influence and development, as defined by Law no. 351/2001 (on the National Territorial Management Plan). Localities which do not meet the criteria are designated "cities" ( orașe) or "communes" ( comune). | Municipalities of Romania Cities of Romania Communes of Romania |
| Russia | several types of municipalities ("municipal formations") exist; see subdivisions of Russia | |||||
| San Marino | there are also eight minor municipalities, castelli. | |||||
| Serbia | opština | a district ( okrug) | ||||
| Slovakia | obec | okres ( okres) which is part of a kraj ( kraj) | 2,891 | |||
| Slovenia | občina | region ( regija) | 212 | a municipality ( občina) is the primary local administrative unit. There are 212 of them, 11 of which have a special "Urban" status with additional autonomy. | Municipalities of Slovenia | |
| South Africa | district municipalities and metropolitan municipalities are subdivisions of the provinces, and local municipalities are subdivisions of district municipalities. | |||||
| Spain | municipio / municipi / concello / udalerria | 8,122 | a municipality ( municipio) is the primary local administrative unit. It is a part of a province ( provincia) for all national administrative purposes. In the Galicia region, the municipalities are called, in Galician language, concellos, and in the Principality of Asturias region, a municipality is called a concejo (in Spanish language) or a conceyu (in Asturian language). In these two regions a municipality contains one or more parroquias (parishes). | Municipalities of Spain | ||
| Sweden | kommun | Stockholm Municipality Gothenburg Municipality Malmö Municipality Ale Municipality | County Councils of Sweden (Swedish: landsting) self-governing local authority, covering 21 counties, each comprising one or more of the municipalities. | 290 | is self-governing according to the Swedish constitution and constitutes local government. Before 1971, a municipality could be called a town ( stad), a köping or a rural municipality ( landskommun); present municipalities which used to be towns are still commonly called towns. Sweden is also divided in 2 523 districts (Swedish: distrikt) since 1 January 2016. SFS 2015:493, Svensk författningssamling: Förordning om distrikt. | Municipalities of Sweden |
| Switzerland | commune/Gemeinde/comune | a canton ( canton/Kanton/cantone) and defined by cantonal law. | 2,596 | Municipalities in Switzerland | ||
| Thailand | thesaban | None | 1,602 | There are three levels of municipalities, and municipalities are not self-governed except for Bangkok and Pattaya. Municipalities introduced in 1935, Bangkok became self-governed in 1972, and Pattaya became self-governed in 1978. | Thesaban | |
| Turkey | belediye | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality | il(province) | 2,920 | is a local government authority and there are two types of municipalities: metropolitan (büyükşehir) municipality, district (alt/ilçe) municipality. | |
| Ukraine | there are two types of municipalities: urban and rural. Both are referred to after their governing body as council (i.e. miskrada, selyshchna rada or silrada). They are considered the lowest administrative division in the country and better known as the local government. Urban municipalities are more complex and divided into city municipalities (miskrada) and town municipalities (selyshchna rada). The most complex municipalities are the cities of regional significance which are referred to simply as cities and create a sort of ambiguity. | |||||
| United Arab Emirates | an emirate | is defined by the law of the specific emirates. | ||||
| Uruguay | municipio | 89 | Municipalities of Uruguay | |||
| Venezuela | municipio | Anaco Municipality | a state, as well as a subdivision of the Capital District ( estado) | Municipalities of Venezuela | ||
| Vietnam | Direct-controlled municipality | Ho Chi Minh City (largest) | 5 | A direct-controlled municipality ( Thành phố trực thuộc trung ương) is a city with equal status to a province | Municipalities of Vietnam |
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