Municipality

Learn about Africa online

A municipality or general-purpose district (see also: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government.

Municipalities are not necessarily the same as townships.

In most countries, this is the smallest administrative subdivision that has its own democratically elected representative leadership.

Table of contents

1 Municipalities as second level entities
2 First level entities and other forms of municipalities
3 See also

Municipalities as second level entities

In Australia, a municipality is a city, or shire and is a subdivision of a state
In Austria, a municipaltity is part of a province (Bezirk and a Bundesland).
In Belgium, a municipality (gemeente/commune) is part of a province (provincie/province)
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a municipality (općina) is part of a canton (kanton)
In Brazil, a municipality (município) is part of a state (estado)
In Chile, a municipality (comuna) is part of a province (provincia)
In Croatia, a municipality (općina) is part of a county (županija)
In Denmark, a municipality (kommune) is part of a county (amt)
In Finland, a municipality (kunta/kommun) is part of a province (lääni/län)
In France, a municipality (commune) is part of a department (département)
In Germany, a municipality (Gemeinde) is part of a district (Kreis). Larger entities of the same level are named city (Stadt).
In Italy, a municipality (comune) is part of a province (provincia) which is part of a region (regione).
In Japan, any government other than the Japanese national government is called a municipality.
In Mexico, a municipality (municipio) is subdivision of a state (estado).
In the Netherlands, a municipality (gemeente) is part of a province (provincie).
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 Serbia, a municipality (opština) is part of a county (okrug)
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 parishs are not generally considered to be municipalities, although there are exceptions. In some states, towns have a non-municipal status similar to townships.

First level entities and other forms of municipalities

In the People's Republic of China, a municipality (直辖市 in pinyin: zhíxiéshì) 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 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.