Administrative division (also known as "Subnational entities") is a generic term for an administrative region within a country or Political division — 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. While division alone could also refer to military units, the qualifier "administrative" brings it into another context.
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Administrative divisions in a narrow sense could also refer to administrative entities in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myamar and formerly Pakistan and British India as well as historic regions and devices in some northern European traditions. See Division (country subdivision) and Hundred (country subdivision). 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
- Urban
- County
- Despotate (not subnational)
- District
- Division (country subdivision)
- Duchy (partial subnational)
- Empire (not subnational)
- Kingdom
- Local council
- Municipality
- Parish
- Prefecture
- Principality (partial subnational)
- Province
- Region
- Republic (partial subnational)
- Indigenous:
- Electoral district (constituency):
- State (sub-national)
- Subdivision
- Territory
Native terms
See: List of terms for country subdivisions 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 country subdivisions
- List of subnational entities by country
- List of subnational name etymologies
- List of the most populous country subdivisions
- List of the largest country subdivisions by area
- Lists of unofficial regions by country
- Table of administrative country subdivisions by country
