definition
strict definition
department
An official territorial division called a department, with its rank and government defined nationally.
A department is an official territorial division in a country whose administrative system uses that term.
Its rank and institutions vary. A French department is both a territorial authority and an area for state administration below a region, while a department can be a country's primary division elsewhere.
The name alone does not make a department equivalent to a province or county. Those terms can occupy a comparable position, but their legal identity comes from a different national system.
Related definitions
-
1st-level district
A stable, government-determined subdivision of a municipality, excluding transitory postal and electoral divisions. -
2nd-level district
A stable government-determined subdivision of a first-level district, in a municipality that has that higher tier. -
3rd-level district
A stable government-determined subdivision of a second-level district, in a municipality with first- and second-level districts. -
NUTS 1
The largest tier of the European statistical region classification, above the level used for most reporting. -
NUTS 2
The middle tier of the European statistical region classification, the level most regional policy is measured at. -
NUTS 3
The finest tier of the European statistical region classification, usually matching a county or a province. -
administration
An official territorial unit assigned to a public office for coordinating work within a municipality. -
area
A named territorial subdivision whose official designation does not state a more specific kind of unit. -
arrondissement
An administrative subdivision in a French or related system, with powers and rank set by that system. -
barrio
A named subdivision of a municipality or settlement in a Spanish-speaking jurisdiction. -
belde municipality
A Turkish municipal government for a town that is not a provincial or district administrative center. -
block
An officially and consistently identified urban land unit bounded by streets, with no street crossing its interior. -
borough
A town or district with its own charter, at a tier that differs from country to country. -
canton
An official territorial division called a canton, with constitutional status and rank set locally. -
census area
An area delimited for statistics in place of a county, used in Alaska where no borough exists. -
centrally governed city
A Vietnamese city forming a province-level unit under the national government. -
charter township
A Michigan township that has adopted a charter, giving it stronger powers than an ordinary township. -
city
A populated area with some degree of self-governance, which does not belong to any other city. -
civil township
A subdivision of a US county that has a government, used where townships rather than municipalities cover the land. -
commune
A basic local territorial unit governed as a commune under the law of its country. -
community
A named populated place recognized by a register without being a separate unit of government. -
continent
Any of the seven commonly recognized subdivisions of the earth's land area. -
country
An independent political state or distinct territory treated as a country-level geographical unit. -
county
A geographical subdivision of a country, usually below a state, province, or comparable regional tier. -
county-administered city
A self-governing Taiwanese city that remains within a county and has the status of a township. -
county-level city
A Chinese city administered at the same level as a county, below a prefecture. -
development region
A grouping of counties used for regional planning and statistics, without a government of its own. -
district
An officially delimited subdivision of a larger territory, with no fixed rank or form of government. -
district municipality
An incorporated local government whose statutory class is district municipality. -
division
A formally delimited part of a territory whose official class is a division. -
edition
A version of a boundary set, kept so that data measured against an earlier version stays interpretable. -
emirate
A territory governed by an emir, including each constituent member of the United Arab Emirates. -
governorate
An administrative territory whose chief executive or state representative is a governor. -
group of countries
A set of countries treated as one unit, whether by a treaty, a shared history or common geography. -
indian reserve
Land set aside for the use of a First Nation in Canada, administered separately from the surrounding municipality. -
island territory
An island or island group administered as a distinct territory of a country. -
land parcel
A single contiguous piece of land which is bought, sold, or owned as a unit. -
local community
A legally recognized submunicipal area through which residents handle limited local matters. -
metro township
A Utah township that has become a municipality while keeping the township name. -
metropolitan area
A population center comprising several cities in geographical proximity with close economic interaction. -
metropolitan district municipality
A Turkish district municipality operating within the territory of a metropolitan municipality. -
mountain indigenous district
A self-governing indigenous district formed from a former mountain township in a Taiwanese special municipality. -
municipality
A legally constituted territorial unit governed by the municipal authorities of its country. -
nation
A territorially defined constituent nation recognized as a political part of a larger country. -
neighborhood
A named part of a settlement recognized as a local place, with customary or official boundaries. -
neighborhood planning unit
A neighborhood planning unit in Atlanta, used to organize citizen participation in planning. -
non-municipalized area
A Colombian territory that is administered by its department because it has no municipality of its own. -
parish
A civil division used in place of a county in Louisiana, and a local unit in several other countries. -
planning region
One of nine Connecticut planning areas represented by regional councils and recognized as Census Bureau county equivalents. -
prefecture
An official administrative territory called a prefecture, with rank and institutions set nationally. -
prefecture-level city
A Chinese city administered at prefecture level, usually containing counties and smaller cities. -
province
A first-level subdivision of a country, used where the country calls it a province. -
quarter
A named section of a settlement, defined by customary identity or an official subdivision. -
raion
An administrative district in a country whose official or transliterated terminology uses raion. -
region
A first-level or second-level country subdivision, used where the country's own term is region. -
rural township
A self-governing Taiwanese county subdivision whose statutory municipal class is rural township. -
section
A named or numbered subdivision of a settlement or district established by an official scheme. -
sector
A major division of a city, used where the country's own term for a large city district is sector. -
special administrative region
A Chinese region that keeps its own legal and economic system, namely Hong Kong and Macau. -
special administrative zone
A Vietnamese commune-level unit established for an important island area with special conditions.