Administrative division

Administrative divisions^[1] (also administrative units,^[2][3][4] administrative regions,^[5] subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divided. Such a unit usually has an administrative authority with the power to take administrative or policy decisions for its area.^[3] Administrative divisions are often used as polygons in geospatial analysis.^[6]

Usually, sovereign states have several levels of administrative division. Common names for the principal (largest) administrative divisions include: states (subnational states, rather than sovereign states), provinces, lands, oblasts and regions. These in turn are often subdivided into smaller administrative units known by names such as comarcas, raions or districts, which are further subdivided into municipalities, communes or communities constituting the smallest units of subdivision (the local governments). Some administrative division names (such as departments, cantons, prefectures, counties or governorates) can be used for principal, second-level, or third-level divisions.

The levels of administrative divisions and their structure largely varies by country (and sometimes within a single country). Usually the smaller the country is (by area or population), the fewer levels of administrative divisions it has. For example, Vatican City does not have any administrative subdivisions, and Monaco has only one level (both are city-states), while such countries as France and Pakistan have five levels each. The United States is composed of states, possessions, territories, and a federal district, each with varying numbers of subdivisions.

La división administrativa principal de un país se denomina a veces « división administrativa de primer nivel (o de primer orden )» o «primer nivel administrativo». Su siguiente subdivisión podría denominarse «división administrativa de segundo nivel» o «segundo nivel administrativo», y así sucesivamente. ^{[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 7 ]} Una terminología alternativa la proporciona la Nomenclatura de Unidades Territoriales para Estadísticas, que denomina a la división principal como segundo nivel o NUTS-2.

Las comunidades unidas en una federación bajo un gobierno federal se conocen más específicamente como estados federados . Un estado federado puede denominarse provincia, región, cantón, territorio, gobernación, óblast, emirato o país. ^{[ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]} Las unidades administrativas que no están federadas ni confederadas, pero que gozan de un mayor grado de autonomía o autogobierno que otros territorios dentro del mismo país, pueden considerarse regiones autónomas o estados constituyentes de facto de ese país. Esta relación es denominada por algunos autores como federación o federalismo asimétrico . ^{[ 11 ]} Un ejemplo es la república autónoma de Karakalpakstán dentro de Uzbekistán . ^{[ 12 ]}

• GADM, a high-resolution database of country administrative areas
• ISO 3166-2, specifically Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 2
• List of administrative division name changes
• List of etymologies of administrative divisions
• List of administrative divisions by country

• Divisiones administrativas mundiales
• SALBArchived 2014-01-15 at the Wayback Machine Second Administrative Level (Url Link inactive) Boundaries (SALB) programme of the United Nations.
• Statoids, an international convention with standardized two-letter-based multi-level summaries of administrative divisions worldwide (e.g. GH.AH.AS represents Adansi South (AE) in the Accra Home (AH) region of Ghana (GH)).