primary country division tier
The first level of subdivision inside a country, whatever that country calls it.
The primary country division tier holds the first level a country divides itself into: the state, the province, the region, the prefecture, the governorate, the voivodship. What the unit is called is the region type; the tier says only that it is the first step down from the country.
Placing every country's first level on one tier is what makes them comparable. A German Bundesland, a French region and a Japanese prefecture differ in powers and in size, and all three answer the same question about position.
Where a country has no such level and its municipalities sit directly under it, this tier stays empty for that country rather than being filled with something invented.
Related definitions
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1st level district tier
The first level of subdivision inside a municipality, holding the quarters residents name. -
2nd level district tier
The second level of subdivision inside a municipality, below a first-level district. -
3rd level district tier
The third level of subdivision inside a municipality, below a second-level district. -
city block tier
The tier for the smallest built unit, the ground enclosed by streets on every side. -
continent tier
The top of the region hierarchy, holding the seven landmasses everything else sits on. -
country or territory tier
The sovereign level of the hierarchy, holding states and the dependencies administered by them. -
group of countries tier
The tier for sets of countries treated as one unit, sitting under a continent. -
group of primary country divisions tier
The tier for areas that group several first-level divisions of one country into one named unit. -
land parcel tier
The lowest tier, holding the individual plot as the land register records it. -
metropolitan area tier
The tier for a city and the municipalities around it that function as one place. -
municipality tier
The tier of local self-government, from the smallest village to the largest city. -
secondary country division tier
The second level of subdivision inside a country, below the first and above the municipality. -
street tier
The tier holding streets, the reference an address is built on rather than an area of land. -
zone tier
The tier for named areas that cross the hierarchy instead of sitting in it.