List of Spanish autonomous communities by gross domestic product

The list below shows all of the autonomous communities and two autonomous cities of Spain. The list shown is from 2018 and is in Euros and International Dollar. Catalonia and Madrid are the largest communities in Spain in terms of GDP. Ceuta and Melilla are the smallest communities in Spain and are autonomous cities. In 2018, according to DatosMacro, the economies every community in the country grew with Madrid and Cantabria with 3,7% and 3,4% respectively, whilst Murcia, the worst performing, grew by just 1.5%.
List of autonomous communities by GDP.
A review of the economy of the autonomous communities was published in December 2019, slightly changing the position of all regions, the data of the GDP are fully updated, however, those of the PPP "are not ."
List of autonomous communities by GDP per capita.
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Provincial GDP.
All provinces and islands of Spain by GDP and GDP per capita in 2015.
References.
http://www.datosmacro.com/pib/espana-comunidades-autonomas| PIB de las Comunidades Autónomas


List of settlements in Greater Manchester by population

This is a list of settlements in Greater Manchester by population based on the results of the 2011 census. The next United Kingdom census will take place in 2021. In 2011, there were 61 built-up area subdivisions with 5,000 or more inhabitants in Greater Manchester, shown in the table below.
Administrative boundaries.
Table taken from the Greater Manchester article:
Population ranking.
Notes:


States of Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany, as a federal state, consists of sixteen partly sovereign federated states ( (state), plural (states); commonly informally / federated state, plural / federated states). Since the German nation state was formed from an earlier collection of several states (only some of which still exist), it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty.
With an emphasis on geographical conditions, Berlin and Hamburg are frequently called ' ('city-states'), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of and . The remaining thirteen states are called ' (roughly 'area states').
The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") in 1949 was through the unification of the three western zones which were previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II. Initially, the states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: '), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse ('), Lower Saxony ('), North Rhine-Westphalia ('), Rhineland-Palatinate (""), Schleswig-Holstein, Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin, while officially not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a "de facto" state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg.
In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland.
The next change occurred in the aftermath of German reunification in 1990, in which the area of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) became part of the Federal Republic. This was performed by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ('), Saxony ('), Saxony-Anhalt ('), and Thuringia (') to the Federal Republic and by the de facto reunification of West and East Berlin into Berlin and its establishment as a full and equal state. A regional referendum in 1996, to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg as "Berlin-Brandenburg", failed to reach the necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners had voted in favour.
Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany. According to the German constitution (Basic Law, or '), some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and the federation; the states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including "culture", which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training. Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level, the constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the ' ('Federal Council', the de facto upper house of the German Federal Parliament) and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government".
States.
It is the states which formed the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria, where the national "Bund" (federation) was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of this federal nation.
The German use of the term "Länder" (‘lands’) dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Before this time, the states of the German Empire were called "Staaten" (states). Today, it is very common to use the term "Bundesland" (federated "land"). However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law (Constitution) of 1949. Three "Länder" call themselves "Freistaaten" (‘free states’, an older German term for ‘republic’): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally since 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of the Weimar Republic, six still exist (though partly with different border-lines):
The other 11 pre-existing states either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities.
A new delimitation of the federal territory keeps being debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among the American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries. Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong "Länder" that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many "Länder" also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated." But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception.
History.
Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states, numbering more than 300 around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After the Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation. The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states.
Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state, the North German Federation, on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire. The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Within the empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia.
After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation. These states were gradually abolished and reduced to provinces under the Nazi regime via the process, as the states administratively were largely superseded by the Nazi "Gau" system.
During the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, internal borders were redrawn by the Allied military governments. No single state comprised more than 30% of either population or territory; this was intended to prevent any one state from being as dominant within Germany as Prussia had been in the past. Initially, only seven of the pre-War states remained: Baden (in part), Bavaria (reduced in size), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (enlarged), Saxony, and Thuringia. The states with hyphenated names, such as Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt, owed their existence to the occupation powers and were created out of mergers of former Prussian provinces and smaller states.
Former German territory that lie east of the Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania, East Prussia, Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of the German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time.
Upon its founding in 1949, West Germany had eleven states. These were reduced to nine in 1952 when three south-western states (South Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Württemberg-Baden) merged to form Baden-Württemberg. From 1957, when the French-occupied Saar Protectorate was returned and formed into the Saarland, the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the "Old States" today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways "de facto" integrated with West Germany under a special status.
East Germany originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called "Bezirke". Soviet-controlled East Berlin – despite officially having the same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district.
Just prior to the German reunification on 3 October 1990, the East German states were reconstituted close to their earlier configuration as the five "New States". The former district of East Berlin joined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Henceforth, the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus the new state Berlin add up to current 16 states of Germany.
Later, the constitution was amended to state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved the unity of Germany in free self-determination and that the Basic Law thus applied to the entire German people. Article 23, which had allowed "any other parts of Germany" to join, was rephrased. It had been used in 1957 to reintegrate the Saar Protectorate as the Saarland into the Federal Republic, and this was used as a model for German reunification in 1990. The amended article now defines the participation of the Federal Council and the 16 German states in matters concerning the European Union.
The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with the consent of the Federal Government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs.
Some states call themselves a "free state" (). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I. Today, is associated emotionally with a more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population.
West Germany, 1945–90.
Article 29 of the Basic Law states that "the division of the federal territory into Länder may be revised to ensure that each be of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively". The somewhat complicated provisions regulate that "revisions of the existing division into shall be effected by a federal law, which must be confirmed by referendum".
A new delimitation of the federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics (Rutz, Miegel, Ottnad etc.) and politicians (Döring, Apel, and others) made proposals some of them far-reaching for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers.
To date, the only successful reform was the merger of the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern to form the new state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952.
Article 29 reflects a debate on territorial reform in Germany that is much older than the Basic Law. The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation of large and petty principalities under the nominal suzerainty of the emperor. Approximately 300 states existed at the eve of the French Revolution in 1789.
Territorial boundaries were essentially redrawn as a result of military conflicts and interventions from the outside: from the Napoleonic Wars to the Congress of Vienna, the number of territories decreased from about 300 to 39; in 1866 Prussia annexed the sovereign states of Hanover, Nassau, Hesse-Kassel, and the Free City of Frankfurt; the last consolidation came about under Allied occupation after 1945.
The debate on a new delimitation of the German territory started in 1919 as part of discussions about the new constitution. Hugo Preuss, the father of the Weimar Constitution, drafted a plan to divide the German Reich into 14 roughly equal-sized states. His proposal was turned down due to opposition of the states and concerns of the government. Article 18 of the constitution enabled a new delimitation of the German territory but set high hurdles: "Three fifth of the votes handed in, and at least the majority of the population are necessary to decide on the alteration of territory". In fact, until 1933 there were only four changes in the configuration of the German states: The 7 Thuringian states were merged in 1920, whereby Coburg opted for Bavaria, Pyrmont joined Prussia in 1922, and Waldeck did so in 1929. Any later plans to break up the dominating Prussia into smaller states failed because political circumstances were not favourable to state reforms.
After the Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, the increasingly lost importance. They became administrative regions of a centralised country. Three changes are of particular note: on January 1, 1934, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was united with the neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz; and, by the Greater Hamburg Act () of 1937, the area of the city-state was extended, while Lübeck lost its independence and became part of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.
Between 1945 and 1947, new states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen, Hesse, Württemberg-Baden, and Bavaria in the American zone; Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone; Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and the Saarland which later received a special status in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern), Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia in the Soviet zone.
In 1948, the military governors of the three Western Allies handed over the so-called Frankfurt Documents to the minister-presidents in the Western occupation zones. Among other things, they recommended revising the boundaries of the West German states in a way that none of them should be too large or too small in comparison with the others.
As the premiers did not come to an agreement on this question, the Parliamentary Council was supposed to address this issue. Its provisions are reflected in Article 29. There was a binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory: the Federal Territory must be revised (paragraph 1). Moreover, in territories or parts of territories whose affiliation with a had changed after 8 May 1945 without a referendum, people were allowed to petition for a revision of the current status within a year after the promulgation of the Basic Law (paragraph 2). If at least one tenth of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections were in favour of a revision, the federal government had to include the proposal into its legislation. Then a referendum was required in each territory or part of a territory whose affiliation was to be changed (paragraph 3). The proposal should not take effect if within any of the affected territories a majority rejected the change. In this case, the bill had to be introduced again and after passing had to be confirmed by referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4). The reorganization should be completed within three years after the Basic Law had come into force (paragraph 6).
In their letter to Konrad Adenauer, the three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force.
Establishment of Baden-Württemberg.
In southwestern Germany, territorial revision seemed to be a top priority since the border between the French and American occupation zones was set along the Autobahn Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm (today the A8). Article 118 stated "The division of the territory comprising Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern into may be revised, without regard to the provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the concerned. If no agreement is reached, the revision shall be effected by a federal law, which shall provide for an advisory referendum." Since no agreement was reached, a referendum was held on 9 December 1951 in four different voting districts, three of which approved the merger (South Baden refused but was overruled, as the result of total votes was decisive). On 25 April 1952, the three former states merged to form Baden-Württemberg.
Petitions to reconstitute former states.
With the Paris Agreements, West Germany regained (limited) sovereignty. This triggered the start of the one-year period as set in paragraph 2 of Article 29. As a consequence, eight petitions for referendums were launched, six of which were successful:
The last petition was originally rejected by the Federal Minister of the Interior in reference to the referendum of 1951. However, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the rejection was unlawful: the population of Baden had the right to a new referendum because the one of 1951 had taken place under different rules from the ones provided for by article 29. In particular, the outcome of the 1951 referendum did not reflect the wishes of the majority of Baden's population.
The two Palatine petitions (for a reintegration into Bavaria and integration into Baden-Württemberg) failed with 7.6% and 9.3%. Further requests for petitions (Lübeck, Geesthacht, Lindau, Achberg, and 62 Hessian communities) had already been rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Minister of the Interior or were withdrawn as in the case of Lindau. The rejection was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of Lübeck.
Saar: the little reunification.
In the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the Western European Union (WEU), but on 23 October 1955 in the Saar Statute referendum the Saar electorate rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite the public support of Federal German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Saarlanders was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany.
On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the constitution art. 23 for the Federal Republic of Germany. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when the Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland.
Constitutional amendments.
Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on the grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies.
The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and the referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1.
In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of the Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest.
In the north, either a single new state consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should be created (solution A) or two new states, one in the northeast consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and the northern part of Lower Saxony (from Cuxhaven to Lüchow-Dannenberg) and one in the northwest consisting of Bremen and the rest of Lower Saxony (solution B).
In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and the Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D).
Both alternatives could be combined (AC, BC, AD, BD).
At the same time the commission developed criteria for classifying the terms of Article 29 Paragraph 1. The capacity to perform functions effectively was considered most important, whereas regional, historical, and cultural ties were considered as hardly verifiable. To fulfill administrative duties adequately, a population of at least five million per state was considered as necessary.
After a relatively brief discussion and mostly negative responses from the affected states, the proposals were shelved. Public interest was limited or nonexistent.
The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden.
The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are the percentages of those eligible who voted in favour):
The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag however decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of the constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court.
On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first. The option for a referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it.
Reunited Germany, 1990–present.
The debate on territorial revision restarted shortly before German reunification. While academics (Rutz and others) and politicians (Gobrecht) suggested introducing only two, three, or four states in East Germany, legislation reconstituted the five states that had existed until 1952, however, with slightly changed boundaries.
Article 118a was introduced into the Basic Law and provided the possibility for Berlin and Brandenburg to merge "without regard to the provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the two with the participation of their inhabitants who are entitled to vote".
Article 29 was again modified and provided an option for the states to "revise the division of their existing territory or parts of their territory by agreement without regard to the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (7)".
The state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in the popular referendum of 5 May 1996 about 63% voted against the merger.
Politics.
Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitutional document known as the "Grundgesetz" (Basic Law). By calling the document the "Grundgesetz", rather than "Verfassung" (constitution), the authors expressed the intention that it would be replaced by a true constitution once Germany was reunited as one state.
Amendments to the "Grundgesetz" generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the parliament; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity. Despite the original intention, the "Grundgesetz" remained in effect after the German reunification in 1990, with only minor amendments.
Government.
The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal constitution, stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to the principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a "Ministerpräsident" (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the "Landtag" (State Diet). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of the federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the "Landtag"’s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote.
The governments in Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are the "senates". In the three free states of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia, the government is the "state government" "(Staatsregierung)"; and in the other ten states, the "Land government" "(Landesregierung)". Before January 1, 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected "Landtag", and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities, the executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the "Senatspräsident" (president of the senate) in Bremen, the "Erster Bürgermeister" (first mayor) in Hamburg, and the "Regierender Bürgermeister" (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the "Abgeordnetenhaus" (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a "Bürgerschaft". The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as "Landtag" (State Parliament).
Subdivisions.
The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into boroughs. The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts: Bremen and Bremerhaven, which are not contiguous. In the other states there are the following subdivisions:
Area associations ("Landschaftsverbände").
The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is uniquely divided into two area associations ("Landschaftsverbände"), one for the Rhineland, and one for Westphalia-Lippe. This arrangement was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally different regions into a single state after World War II. The "Landschaftsverbände" now have very little power.
The constitution of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at §75 states the right of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern to form "Landschaftsverbände", although these two constituent parts of the state are not represented in the current administrative division.
Governmental districts ("Regierungsbezirke").
The large states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia are divided into governmental districts, or "Regierungsbezirke".
In Rhineland-Palatinate, these districts were abolished on January 1, 2000, in Saxony-Anhalt on January 1, 2004, and in Lower Saxony on January 1, 2005. From 1990 until 2012, Saxony was divided into three districts (called "Direktionsbezirke" since 2008). In 2012, these districts' authorities were merged into one central authority, the "".
Administrative districts ("Kreise").
The Districts of Germany "(Kreise)" are administrative districts, and every state except the city-states of Berlin and Hamburg and the state of Bremen consists of "rural districts" "(Landkreise)," District-free Towns/Cities ("Kreisfreie Städte", in Baden-Württemberg also called "urban districts", or "Stadtkreise"), cities that are districts in their own right, or local associations of a special kind "(Kommunalverbände besonderer Art)," see below. The state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen consists of two urban districts, while Berlin and Hamburg are states and urban districts at the same time.
As of 2011, there are 295 "Landkreise" and 107 "Kreisfreie Städte", making 402 districts altogether. Each consists of an elected council and an executive, which is chosen either by the council or by the people, depending on the state, the duties of which are comparable to those of a county executive in the United States, supervising local government administration. The "Landkreise" have primary administrative functions in specific areas, such as highways, hospitals, and public utilities.
Local associations of a special kind are an amalgamation of one or more "Landkreise" with one or more "Kreisfreie Städte" to form a replacement of the aforementioned administrative entities at the district level. They are intended to implement simplification of administration at that level. Typically, a district-free city or town and its urban hinterland are grouped into such an association, or "Kommunalverband besonderer Art". Such an organization requires the issuing of special laws by the governing state, since they are not covered by the normal administrative structure of the respective states.
In 2010 only three "Kommunalverbände besonderer Art" exist.
Offices ("Ämter").
Ämter ("offices" or "bureaus"): In some states there is an administrative unit between the districts and the municipalities, called "Ämter" (singular "Amt"), "Amtsgemeinden", "Gemeindeverwaltungsverbände", "Landgemeinden", "Verbandsgemeinden", "Verwaltungsgemeinschaften", or "Kirchspiellandgemeinden".
Municipalities ("Gemeinden").
Municipalities ("Gemeinden"): Every rural district and every "Amt" is subdivided into municipalities, while every urban district is a municipality in its own right. There are () 12,141 municipalities, which are the smallest administrative units in Germany. Cities and towns are municipalities as well, also having city rights or town rights ("Stadtrechte"). Nowadays, this is mostly just the right to be called a city or town. However, in former times there were many other privileges, including the right to impose local taxes or to allow industry only within city limits.
The number of inhabitants of German municipalities differs greatly, the most populous municipality being Berlin with nearly 3.8 million inhabitants, while the least populous municipalities (for instance, Gröde in Nordfriesland) have less than 10 inhabitants.
The municipalities are ruled by elected councils and by an executive, the mayor, who is chosen either by the council or directly by the people, depending on the state. The "constitution" for the municipalities is created by the states and is uniform throughout a state (except for Bremen, which allows Bremerhaven to have its own constitution).
The municipalities have two major policy responsibilities. First, they administer programs authorized by the federal or state government. Such programs typically relate to youth, schools, public health, and social assistance. Second, Article 28(2) of the Basic Law guarantees the municipalities "the right to regulate on their own responsibility all the affairs of the local community within the limits set by law." Under this broad statement of competence, local governments can justify a wide range of activities. For instance, many municipalities develop and expand the economic infrastructure of their communities through the development of industrial trading estates.
Local authorities foster cultural activities by supporting local artists, building arts centres, and by holding fairs. Local government also provides public utilities, such as gas and electricity, as well as public transportation. The majority of the funding for municipalities is provided by higher levels of government rather than from taxes raised and collected directly by themselves.
In five of the German states, there are unincorporated areas, in many cases unpopulated forest and mountain areas, but also four Bavarian lakes that are not part of any municipality. As of January 1, 2005, there were 246 such areas, with a total area of 4167.66 km2 or 1.2 percent of the total area of Germany. Only four unincorporated areas are populated, with a total population of about 2,000. The following table gives an overview.
In 2000, the number of unincorporated areas was 295, with a total area of . However, the unincorporated areas are continually being incorporated into neighboring municipalities, wholly or partially, most frequently in Bavaria.


West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a ceremonial county, metropolitan county and combined authority area in west-central England with a 2019 estimated population of 2,928,592. This makes it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 to cover parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within a wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It covers seven metropolitan boroughs: Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall.
Status.
The metropolitan county exists in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county it has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. Between 1974 and 1986, the West Midlands County Council was the administrative body covering the county; this was abolished on 31 March 1986, and the constituent metropolitan boroughs effectively became unitary authorities. A new administrative body for the county (and some of the district surrounding it as Non-Constituent members), the West Midlands Combined Authority, was created in June 2016. Since May 2017, the authority has been headed by a directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands, a position currently held by Andy Street of the Conservative Party. Other county-wide bodies include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and Transport for West Midlands.
The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlands metropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation" or "Greater Birmingham", although these have different, and less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation, or urban area, does not include Coventry for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion, not surprising perhaps when geographically it is on the eastern side of the region, the western side comprising Shropshire and Herefordshire the southern side comprising Worcestershire and most of Warwickshire.
History.
Although the modern county has only existed since 1974, the settlements of the West Midlands have long been important centres of commerce and industry as well as developing a good local infrastructure. Coventry was one of England's most important cities during the Middle Ages, with its prosperity built upon wool and cloth manufacture. Birmingham and Wolverhampton have a tradition of industry dating back to the 16th century, when small metal-working industries developed. Birmingham was known for its manufacture of small arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture and brass working. The coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country area provided a ready source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, and by the 20th century had grown into one large conurbation. Coventry was slower to develop, but by the early 20th century, it had become an important centre of bicycle and car manufacture.
1966 saw a substantial reform in the local government of the area as the patchwork of county boroughs with municipal boroughs and urban district councils in between was replaced by a core of county boroughs covering a contiguous area, roughly as follows:
Near this area, three other towns remained separate (Halesowen, Stourbridge and Sutton Coldfield), while Aldridge and Brownhills joined to form a single unit, called Aldridge-Brownhills. In the same year, a single West Midlands Constabulary was formed for the Black Country county boroughs, whilst Birmingham retained its Birmingham City Police and Solihull continued being policed by the Warwickshire Constabulary. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority was established in 1968.
County creation.
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect, creating the metropolitan county of West Midlands. This area was based on the seven county boroughs and the other non-county boroughs and urban districts around the fringe of the conurbation. The new area consisted of seven new metropolitan boroughs, with Aldridge-Brownhills added to Walsall; Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough of Sandwell was formed by the merger of West Bromwich and Warley. The actual designation of Warley itself was abolished and the three towns of Smethwick, Oldbury and Rowley Regis reinstated as component parts of Sandwell, although these areas formed the Warley postal district.
Solihull took in much of the suburban fringe to the east of Birmingham, including the former villages of Chelmsley Wood and Castle Bromwich, also Birmingham Airport, and the area of countryside between Solihull and Coventry, whilst Coventry itself received only small changes and Wolverhampton was unaltered. This led to (apart from in the east, with Coventry and the Meriden Gap) quite a tightly defined metropolitan border, excluding such places as Burntwood, Bromsgrove, Cannock, Kidderminster, Lichfield and Wombourne which had been considered for inclusion in the West Midlands metropolitan area by the Redcliffe-Maud Report. The 1974 reform created the West Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. A new West Midlands Police service was formed covering the entire area, with the West Midlands Constabulary and Birmingham City Police abolished, and also taking over responsibility from the county forces.
West Midlands County Council.
Between 1974 and 1986, the county had a two-tier system of local government, and the seven districts shared power with the West Midlands County Council. However, the Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan county councils, and the West Midlands County Council ceased to exist in 1986. Most of its functions were devolved to the West Midland boroughs, which effectively became unitary authorities, with responsibility for most local authority functions.
Following the abolition of the county council, some county-wide bodies continued to exist, which were administered by various joint-boards of the seven districts, among these were the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive.
Boundary changes.
In 1994, the western/southern shores of Chasewater, plus the adjacent Jeffreys Swag, were transferred from the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire. Further boundary changes came into effect in 1995, when part of the Hereford and Worcester parish of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the county.
West Midlands Combined Authority.
On 17 June 2016 a new administrative body, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created for the county, under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, which created several other combined authorities in England. The new body has powers over transport, economic development, skills and planning. A new directly elected position of Mayor of the West Midlands was created in 2017 to chair the new body. The first Mayoral election was held in May 2017, and the position was won by Andy Street of the Conservative Party.
Geography.
The West Midlands is a landlocked county that borders the counties of Warwickshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south, and Staffordshire to the north and west.
The West Midlands County is one of the most heavily urbanised counties in the UK. Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form the third most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom with a combined population of around 2.44 million. However, the West Midlands is not entirely urban; Coventry is separated from the West Midlands conurbation by a stretch of green belt land roughly across, known as the "Meriden Gap", which retains a strongly rural character. A smaller piece of green belt between Birmingham, Walsall and West Bromwich includes Barr Beacon and the Sandwell Valley.
The highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill, with a height of 271 m (889 ft). The hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Barr Beacon is another hill in the West Midlands, located on the border of Birmingham and Walsall, with a height of 227 m (745 ft).
There are 23 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the county. One of these SSSIs is Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield, which has an area of . As a result, it is one of the largest urban parks in Europe, and the largest outside of a capital city in Europe. The park also has national nature reserve status.
There are numerous rivers that pass through the county, including the River Tame. The river basin is the most urbanised basin in the United Kingdom, with approximately 42% of the basin being urbanised. The River Tame is fed by the River Rea, River Anker, and the River Blythe, which in turn is fed by the River Cole. The River Sowe and River Sherbourne both flow through Coventry. The River Stour flows through the west of the West Midlands county.
Like other metropolitan counties, the West Midlands is divided into districts called metropolitan boroughs. There are seven boroughs in the West Midlands, six of which are named after the largest settlement in their administrative area. The West Midlands is unusual amongst the metropolitan counties in that three of its boroughs have city status; Coventry is a city by ancient prescriptive usage, Birmingham was granted city status in 1889, and Wolverhampton in 2000 as a "Millennium City".
Education.
The West Midlands contains ten universities, seven of which are located in Birmingham:
Both of Coventry University and the University of Warwick are located in Coventry whilst University of Wolverhampton is located in Wolverhampton with campuses in Telford and Walsall.
Each of the local authorities has at least one further education college for students aged over 16, and since September 1992 all of the local authorities have operated traditional 5–7 infant, 7–11 junior, and 11-16/18 secondary schools for students in compulsory education. This followed the demise of 5–8 first, 8–12 middle and 12-16/18 secondary schools in the Sutton Coldfield area.
For 18 years before September 1990, Dudley had operated 5–8 first, 8–12 middle, and 12-16/18 secondary schools before then, while Halesowen (September 1972 until July 1982) and Aldridge-Brownhills (September 1972 until July 1986) had both operated 5–9 first, 9–13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools.
Many local authorities still have sixth form facilities in secondary schools, though sixth form facilities had been axed by most secondary schools in Dudley since the early 1990s (and in Halesowen in 1982) as the local authorities changed direction towards further education colleges.
All secondary state education in Dudley and Sandwell is mixed comprehensive, although there are a small number of single sex and grammar schools existing in parts of Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall.
In August 2009, Matthew Boulton College and Sutton Coldfield College merged to become Birmingham Metropolitan College, one of the largest further and higher education institutions in the country. Plans are afoot for the construction of a new campus in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham.
Sport.
The West Midlands is home to numerous sports teams. In rugby union, the West Midlands is home to various clubs including Wasps RFC, Birmingham Barbarians, Sutton Coldfield RFC, Moseley Rugby Football Club, Birmingham & Solihull RFC, and Coventry RFC.
In rugby league, the Coventry Bears are the only team from the county playing the professional ranks, currently in the third tier League 1.
In association football, there are six Premier League and Football League teams in the county of which three, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, play in the Premier League. The following clubs are often referred to as the West Midlands "Big Six":
The West Midlands is also home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, who are based at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which also hosts Test matches and One Day Internationals. The Birmingham Panthers basketball team replaced the Birmingham Bullets and are currently based at a facility provided by the University of Wolverhampton in Walsall.
The West Midlands has its own Quidditch team, West Midlands Revolution (after its part in the Industrial Revolution), which won the Quidditch Premier League in 2017.


Province of Vibo Valentia

The province of Vibo Valentia (; Vibonese: ) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy, set up by a national law of 6 March 1992 which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the Province of Catanzaro. Its capital is the city of Vibo Valentia and its vehicle licence plate code is VV. The province has an area of (7.6% of the total surface of Calabria), and a total population of 168,894 (ISTAT 2005); the city Vibo Valentia has a population of 35,405. There are 50 "comuni" (singular: "comune") in the province, see list of communes of the Province of Vibo Valentia.
It was first settled by Italic tribe the Sicels and Vibo Valentia was established as a city in the 6th or 7th century, known as Hipponion by the Greeks of Messina and Reggio. Following this, the city was later recolonised by people from town Locri in the region of Calabria. Dionysius I of Syracuse had the city of Hipponion destroyed, and authority of the city subsequently passed to Ancient Carthage, tribe Bruttii, Greek Agathocles of Syracuse, and then the Locrians, before being conquered by Ancient Rome in around 230 BCE. In around 400 CE it was attacked repeatedly before being destroyed by the Muslims. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor had the town rebuilt in the 13th century, and in 1284 it passed to the Ruffo family. Ferdinand I of Naples had a fort constructed in Pizzo Calabro in 1486.
In June 2010 a dormant volcano was discovered off the coast of the province on the line of the fault that led to the 1905 Calabria earthquake. It is a mountainous province and is situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea.


Ionian Islands (region)

The Ionian Islands Region (, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, and the smallest of the thirteen by area. The administrative region does not include all of the Ionian Islands; the island of Kythera, which historically was part of the island group, was separated and integrated to the (far away) Attica Region.
Demographics.
The population of the Ionian Islands in 2011 was 207,855, decreased by 1.5% compared to the population in 2001. Nevertheless, the region remains the third by population density with 90.1/km² nationwide, well above the national of 81.96/km². The most populous of the major islands is Corfu with a population of 104,371, followed by Zante (40,759), Cephalonia (35,801), Leucas (23,693) and Ithaca (3,231). In 2001, the foreign-born population was 19,360 or 9.3%, the majority of which was concentrated in Corfu and Zante. Most of them originate from Albania (13,536). The fertility rate for 2011 according to Eurostat was 1.35 live births per woman.
Economy.
The regional Gross Domestic Product for 2010 was 4,029 million euros. The GDP per capita for the same year was 18,440 euros per capita which was lower than the national median of 20,481. However, the GDP per capita of Cephalonia and Zante, 23,275 and 24,616 respectively, was much higher than the national figure. Additionally, unemployment for 2012 was 14.7, the lowest among all Greek regions, and much lower compared to the national unemployment of 24.2.
Tourism.
The region is a popular tourist destination. The airports of Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia were in the top ten in Greece by number of international arrivals, with 1,386,289 international arrivals for 2012, with Corfu being the sixth airport by number of arrivals nationwide, while Zante and Cephalonia also being in the top ten. Cephalonia Airport had the biggest increase nationwide by 13.11% compared to 2011, while Corfu had an increase of 6.31%.
Administration.
The region was established in the 1987 administrative reform, comprising the prefectures of Corfu, Kefalonia and Ithaca, Lefkada and Zakynthos.
With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended. Along with West Greece and Peloponnese regions, it is supervised by the Decentralized Administration of the Peloponnese, West Greece and the Ionian Islands based at Patras. The region is based at Corfu and is divided into 5 regional units:


Kaunas City Municipality


Prefectures of Greece

During the first administrative division of independent Greece in 1833–1836 and again from 1845 until their abolition with the Kallikratis reform in 2010, the prefectures () were the country's main administrative unit. They are now defunct, and have been approximately replaced by regional units.
They are called departments in and by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names.
The prefectures were the second-degree organization of local government, grouped into 13 regions or (before 1987) 10 geographical departments, and in turn divided into provinces and comprising a number of communities and municipalities. The prefectures became self-governing entities in 1994, when the first prefectural-level elections took place. The prefects were previously appointed by the government. By 2010, their number had risen to 51, of which one, the Attica Prefecture, where more than a third of the country's population resided, was further subdivided into four prefecture-level administrations (νομαρχίες, sing. νομαρχία). In addition, there were three super-prefectures (υπερνομαρχίες, sing. υπερνομαρχία) controlling two or more prefectures.
With the Kallikratis reform, which entered into force on 1 January 2011, the prefectures were abolished. Many, especially in the mainland, were retained in the form of "regional units" (περιφερειακές ενότητες) within the empowered regions, which largely took over the prefectures' administrative role.
Organization.
The current "Prefectural Self-Governments" were formed in 1994 and replaced the previous prefectures, whose councils and prefects were appointed by the government.
Prefectures are governed by a Prefectural Council (νομαρχιακό συμβούλιο) made up of 21 to 37 members, led by the Prefect (νομάρχης) and presided by a Council President (πρόεδρος).
Other organs of the prefectures are:
Super-prefectures have their own organs (Council, Committee and Super-prefect).
Prefectural councillors are elected via public election every four years. Three-fifths of all seats go to the combination winning a majority and two-fifths of the seats go to remaining parties based on a proportional system. Prefect becomes the president of the victorious electoral combination. Electoral is a combination which attains more than 42% in the first round of the prefectural elections. If no combination passes this threshold, a second round takes place between the two combinations that took the most votes in the first round
Duties.
The State ultimately oversees the actions of local governments, including the prefectures, but the Constitution of Greece and the Code of Prefectural Self-Government still provide communities and municipalities with legal control over the administration of their designated areas.
The Code of Prefectural Self-Government does not include a non-restrictive list of prefectural duties, but a general rule, according to which the newly formed Prefectural Self-Governments have all the duties of the previous prefectures, which are related to their local affairs. Nonetheless, the affairs of "(central) state administration" belonging to the prefects before 1994 are now exerted by the Presidents of the Regions (περιφερειάρχης). The current Prefectural Self-Governments have kept the "local affairs of prefectureal level" not belonging to the "(central) state administration".
With certain laws specific affairs of certain ministries were transferred to the Prefectural Self-Governments (sanitary committees, urban-planning services etc.).
History.
The following prefectures have been part of the Greek state since independence:
Notes:
There were several short-lived prefectures in areas of present Albania and Turkey, during the Greek occupation of those areas during World War I and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) respectively:


South Dublin

South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster, and the Dublin Region, the successor to County Dublin, from which its name derives. South Dublin County Council is the local authority for the county. The county contains both dense suburbs of Dublin and stretches of unpopulated mountain. In 2011 it had a population of 278,749, making it the third most populous county in the state.
Geography and population.
South Dublin has an area of , making it the second largest administrative county in Dublin. It is bounded by Dublin City ( to the north east), the River Liffey (separating it from Fingal to the north), Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown (to the east), County Kildare (to the west) and its hills adjoin the mountains of County Wicklow to the south.
The county town is Tallaght. Other important centres of population are Lucan and Clondalkin. Much of the county is heavily urbanised but small rural settlements exist in the southern and western parts. South Dublin had a population of 278,749 according to the 2016 census.
Towns and villages.
Several urban areas in South Dublin County are also traditionally suburbs of Dublin city. For the purposes of planning and management, the County Council designates the status of towns, villages and suburbs in three tiers - town, district centre and local centre. In the current development plan, the towns and district centres are listed as:
while the more local centres are noted in three groups:
Legal status and terminology.
In Ireland, the usage of the word "county" nearly always comes before rather than after the county name; thus ""County" Clare" in Ireland as opposed to "Clare "County"" in Michigan, USA. In the case of those counties created after 1994, they often drop the word "county" entirely, or use it after the name; thus for example internet search engines show many more uses (on Irish sites) of "South Dublin" than of either "County South Dublin" or "South Dublin County". There appears to be no official guidance in the matter, as even the local authority uses all three forms.
In 2015, South Dublin became part of the Eastern and Midland Region.
Local government in the region is further regulated by the Local Government Act 1994. This provided for the legal establishment of the following local government administrative areas:
and also recognised the extant Dublin Corporation area, vesting its powers in a renamed entity - Dublin City Council.
The statutory instrument giving effect to the Act came into force on 1 January 1994. The instrument also provided for the abolition of Dublin County Council - the entity that had previously had responsibility for Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The four entities collectively comprise the former entity known as County Dublin. This entity, which had been created during the Norman invasion of Ireland, was abolished under the Acts.
South Dublin was based on an existing electoral division, Belgard , whose boundaries were only finalised in 1993, to accommodate the M50 motorway, and then used when it was made an Administrative County in 1994 (Fingal and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown's boundaries and names were both set in 1985). The name of Belgard did have a historical association with the area, being the designation of "one" of the border fortresses of the Pale that existed in that area. It was altered, however, due to a view that the name Belgard might create associations with areas of modern development in Tallaght that now also use that name. Various organs of state use alternative subdivisions of the Dublin region for administrative reasons, for example the Dublin postal codes.
Local government and politics.
South Dublin County Council is the local authority for the county. It was established at County Hall at the same time that Dublin County Council and the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire were abolished in 1994, by an Act of the Oireachtas, the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1993. It is one of four councils in the Dublin Region. The county is divided into five local electoral areas for the purpose of elections: Clondalkin (6 councillors), Lucan (5 councillors), Rathfarnham (4 councillors), Tallaght Central (6 councillors), and Tallaght South (5 councillors).
Parts of four constituencies for elections to Dáil Éireann are contained within the county's borders. They are: Dublin Mid-West, Dublin South-West, Dublin South and Dublin South-Central. From 1885 to 1922, much of the area of the present county was encompassed by the historic Westminster constituency of South County Dublin.
Symbols.
The heraldic crest for South Dublin has the inscription "This We Hold In Trust" in both English and Irish, while incorporating elements relating to the history, geography and present day infrastructure of the area.
Sport.
The League of Ireland club Shamrock Rovers plays at Tallaght Stadium. The stadium hosted the 2009 FAI Cup Final and the Setanta Sports Cup final in 2010 & 2011.
The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght is the home venue for both the Ireland national basketball team and Ireland women's national basketball team. The arena also hosts various National Cup & League matches.
Town twinning.
South Dublin is twinned with the London Borough of Brent, United Kingdom.


Smolyan Province

Smolyan Province (, "Oblast Smolyan"; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Smolyan. The province embraces a territory of . that is divided into 10 municipalities with a total population of 124,795 inhabitants, as of December 2009.
Municipalities.
Smolyan Province (Област, "Oblast") contains 10 municipalities (singular: община, "obshtina"; plural: Общини, "obshtini"). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of December 2009.
Population.
The Smolyan province had a population of 140,066 according to the 2001 census, of which were male and were female.
As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 124,795 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.
The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Ethnic groups.
Total population (2011 census): 121 752<br>
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 95,175 persons:
A further 26,000 persons in the Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
In the 2001 census, 132,654 people of the population of 140,066 of Smolyan Province identified themselves as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups:
Language.
In the 2001 census, 135,761 people of the population of 140,066 of Smolyan Province identified one of the following as their mother tongue (with percentage of total population):
129,181 Bulgarian (),
5,782 Turkish (), 532 Romani ()
and 266 other ().
Religion.
Unlike Kardzhali Province where the majority of the Muslim population is Turkish, the Muslim population of Smolyan Province is made up mostly of Muslim Bulgarians.
The Muslim population is mainly concentrated in the municipalities Banite, Borino, Dospat, Madan and Rudozem. The Orthodox-Christians population live predominantly in the municipality of Smolyan and the municipality of Chepelare. The religious structure of the municipalities of Devin, Nedelino and Zlatograd is mixed with Pomaks as well as Orthodox-Christians.
Religious adherence in the province according to 2011 census:
Economy.
The economy of the province is based on tourism, mining, timber and machine industries and livestock raising. The main crops of the region are potatoes (about 30% of the national production), rye and barley; but sheep, pigs and cattle are of greater importance for the agriculture. In the eastern parts of the province are located more than 20 lead and zinc mines, which form one of the most extensive ore deposits in the Balkans. The dense coniferous forests are prerequisite for well-developed timber industry in Dospat, Smolyan, Devin. In Smolyan there are big plants producing machine tools and other machinery, while textile industry is mainly developed to the east in Nedelino, Zlatograd, Madan and Rudozem. There is also a synthetic rubber plant in Madan
Bulgaria's national observatory, Rozhen Observatory, is located near Chepelare. The primary of Media of Bulgaria has a 2-meter mirror, and is the largest observatory in SE Europe.


Champagne-Ardenne

Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of the same name.
The administrative region was formed in 1956, consisting of the four departments Aube, Ardennes, Haute-Marne, and Marne. On 1 January 2016, it merged with the neighboring regions of Alsace and Lorraine to form the new region Grand Est, thereby ceasing to exist as an independent entity.
Its rivers, most of which flow west, include the Seine, the Marne, and the Aisne. The Meuse flows north.
Transportation.
Rail.
The rail network includes the Paris–Strasbourg line, which follows the Marne Valley and serves Épernay, Châlons-en-Champagne, and Vitry-le-François. The LGV Est TGV line also connecting Paris and Strasbourg opened in 2007 and serves Reims with a train station in the commune of Bezannes.
Water.
The region's canals include the Canal latéral à la Marne and Marne-Rhine Canal, the latter connecting to the Marne at Vitry-le-François. These are "petit gabarit" canals.
Air.
The Vatry International Airport, primarily dedicated to air freight, has a runway long. The airport is in a sparsely populated area just from Paris.
Demographics.
The population of Champagne-Ardenne has been in steady decrease since 1982 due to a rural exodus. With 1.3 million people and a density of 52/km2, it is one of France's least populated regions. After a brief period of stabilization in the 1990s, the region's population is now among the fastest "dying" in Europe, with several municipalities losing people at a faster rate than a lot of Eastern European areas, especially in the Haute-Marne department. The region is among the oldest in France, has a weak fertility rate, and its immigrant population, while growing, is still minimal compared to the national average.


List of Polish gminas

Poland has a three-tier administrative division since 1999. On the first level, Poland is divided into 16 voivodeships (Polish: "województwa", singular – "województwo"). These are sub-divided in 380 counties (Polish: "powiaty", singular – "powiat"), and these counties contain 2,477 municipalities, known as gminas (plural - "gminy").
The municipalities are grouped into four categories:
The status and the changes in borders of "gminas" are decided by the Council of Ministers. While their creation and dissolution is also usually decided by it, in exceptional cases, the parliament might direct the organ to issue ordinances ordering dissolution (as it was the case with gmina Ostrowice). These ordinances take effect on 1 January of the year following the year of publication of the ordinance.
Major changes to the framework (such as a restructuring of local administration or regulation of the duties and powers of the self-government) is only possible by law.
The current framework and regulation of powers and duties of the local self-government was adopted in 1998 and became effective on 1 January 1999, with special regulations concerning Warsaw came into existence in 2002. For more details, visit the article on gminas.
History of municipalities.
Poland has had a long history of having "gminas" as an administrative division. In Interwar Poland, for instance, "gminas" also were local self-government entities. This stayed after World War II until the administrative reform in 1950.
That year, a large overhaul of local administration has been made. While the administrative divisions remained three-tier, gminas were substituted with almost 8,800 "gromady, osiedla," and towns. The largest change, however, was that the local administrative units were stripped of their self-governing functions, were not legal entities on their own and instead became the executors of the will of higher administrative organs and, in practice, also of local party organs.
Over time, over half of these "gromadas" were merged into larger entities, until the larger gminas were reinstated in 1973, getting the number of municipalities at just 3,201. Further reductions brought the number down to below 2,900 by 1977. In the meanwhile, Poland abolished counties completely and introduced a new, two-tier administrative division, with 49 smaller voivodeships and "gminas". Ostensibly the reforms of 1973 and 1975 were made in order to guide Poland through an accelerated period of growth, however, the real intent seemed to be the fear of what the government in Warsaw and party organs saw as excessive decentralisation. As a result, Poland became a country with local units possessing no degrees of self-government whatsoever.
This was an immediate concern with the fall of Communism, and in 1990, "gminas" were handed over powers of self-government and gained some autonomy. Quickly though, over 500 towns that previously had been separate municipalities were merged into urban-rural "gminas"; that made the number close to what is in 2021. The last major change happened with the return to three-tier administrative division in 1999, when counties were returned and some of the largest cities became city with powiat rights. Since then, the vast majority of changes was made with the Council of Ministry granting city rights to smaller settlements that previously lost their city rights, even as small as 330 inhabitants.
As of 1 January 2021, the number of "gminas" according to its type is the following:
List.
The list contains 2,477 municipalities sorted by increasing TERYT (Polish for National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal) code of such units, which is not given in the table. It is roughly sorted alphabetically by voivodeships, powiats and then gminas (with urban gminas first) as they appear in Polish.


Vilnius District Municipality

Vilnius District Municipality () is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It surrounds the capital city of Vilnius on 3 sides, while the rest borders the Trakai District Municipality.
At the 2011 Census, Poles amounted to 52.07% out of 95,348 inhabitants. 32.47% were Lithuanians, 8.01% Russians, 4.17% Belarusians, 0.65% Ukrainians and 0.11% Jews. Population grew to 106,957 in January 2021 because of migration of Vilnius citizens to the suburbs.
History.
Vilnius district municipality is situated in the territory what was once Baltic East Lithuanian Barrow Culture (c. 3/4th–11/12th century AD) and numerous archaeological sites from this period are situated within its borders. During the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, major part of what is now Vilnius district municipality was the nucleus of Lietuva Duchy (the land – Lietuva), while the territory to the North of Maišiagala belonged to Neris land. There are some evidences, that Bukiškis just North of Vilnius, which historic name was Gedvydžiai could be associated with Duke Gedvydas and through this link – with Mindaugas. According to Jan Długosz, the pagan ruler of Lithuania Algirdas was cremated in Kukaveitis sacred forest near Maišiagala, after his death in Maišiagala castle in 1377. Nemenčinė (1338), Maišiagala (1254, 1365), Medininkai (1387) known from written sources from the 13th-14th centuries, were among the oldest settlements in Lithuania. These were trade and defense centers with castles as well as religious centers – after the Christianization of Lithuania, early churches were built here. As Vilnius was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the territory around the city was forming the very center of the state, so called Lithuania proper. It was the major part of a much larger Vilnius Duchy and later – Vilnius Voivodeship. After the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Vilna Governorate was formed and Vilensky Uyezd occupied all of what is now Vilnius district municipality. When Vilnius and its suburbs in 1923 were incorporated into Interwar Poland, what is now Vilnius district municipality was the core of Powiat wileńsko-trocki. After the World War II, Vilnius district municipality was formed. Initially small Vilnius district (938 km²) was soon significantly enlarged, absorbing Naujoji Vilnia district (in 1959) and Nemenčinė district (in 1962), parts of Ukmergė district, but transferring some smaller administrative territories to Molėtai district and Švenčionys district, including Pabradė (in 1962). After 1962 (then 2313 km²), there were only minor administrative reforms, attaching some territories from Vilnius district municipality (now 2129 km²) to Vilnius city. In March 1987 Pašilaičiai, Fabijoniškės, Kelmija, Raisteliai villages and parts of Pavilionys, Baltoji Vokė, Prašiškės, Bajorai, Buivydiškės, Grigaičiai, Vanaginė villages were attached to Vilnius city. Almost all of the municipality belongs to Vilnius urban belt, forming suburban environs of the capital city.
Elderships.
The municipality is divided into 23 elderships:
Structure.
District structure.
Largest residential areas by population (2011):
International relations.
Twin towns — Sister cities.
Vilnius District Municipality is twinned with:


Serres (regional unit)

Serres () is one of the regional units of Greece, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is part of the Region of Central Macedonia. Its capital is the city of Serres. The total population reaches just over 175,000.
Geography.
The mountains are Orvelos to the north, Menoikio to the east, Pangaio to the southeast, Kerdylio to the southwest, Vertiskos to the west, parts of Krousi to the west and portions of the Kerkini lies to the northwest. The regional unit borders on Thessaloniki to the southwest, Kilkis to the west, North Macedonia with the Novo Selo Municipality to the northwest, the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria to the north, Drama to the northeast and Kavala to the east. The Strymonian Gulf lies to the south along with the Strymonas delta. Lake Kerkini was a lake located in the southern portion which is now drained. 41% of the regional unit are arable and most of the lands are near the Strymonas river which flows from Bulgaria and empties into the Strymonian Gulf. Another river is the Angitis in the eastern part of the regional unit, with the ravine and caves near Alistrati.
The regional unit has many archaeological and historical features including Serres, Amphipolis, several monasteries, and Metaxa near the border with Bulgaria. The regional unit is also a tourist attraction including Lailia, rich in forests, a skiing resort in the central portion, lake Kerkini which is a reservoir supplying water to the farmlands. Fishing is common within Ano Poroia especially during the summer months and famous Alistrati's caves and the nearby Aggitis ravine.
The southern part around the Strymonas valley has a Mediterranean climate, the rest is predominantly continental with cold winters in higher elevations.
History.
In modern times, Serres, like the rest of Macedonia was contested territory between Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Ottoman Empire. After its liberation from the Turks by the Bulgarians in the First Balkan War, Serres became a part of Greece at the end of the Second Balkan War. During the National Schism, it was occupied by Bulgaria again only to form part of Greece at the end of the war. During the Second World War Bulgaria occupied Serres and launched a campaign of Bulgarisation. It was liberated in 1944.
A substantial portion of the population of the regional unit are descendants of refugees which came from Eastern Thrace which is now Northwestern Turkey, Asia Minor and from Pontus during the Greco-Turkish War.
Administration.
The regional unit Serres is subdivided into 7 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the Serres regional unit was created out of the former Serres Prefecture (). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Provinces.
Before the abolishment of the provinces of Greece in 2006, the Serres prefecture was subdivided into the following provinces:
Transport.
The main roads of Serres regional unit are:
The Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli railway passes through Serres and Sidirokastro.
Sporting teams.
The Panserraikos F.C. association football club, based in Serres, plays in the Football League 2.


Province of Crotone

The province of Crotone () is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It was formed in 1992 out of a section of the province of Catanzaro. The provincial capital is the city of Crotone. It borders the provinces of Cosenza, Catanzaro, and also the Ionian Sea. It contains the mountain Pizzuta, the National Park of the Sila, Montagnella Park, and the Giglietto Valley. Crotone was founded in 710 BCE. It participated in the Second Punic War against the Roman Republic.
The province contains 27 "comuni" (singular: "comune"), listed at comuni of the Province of Crotone.
History.
The area around Capo Colonna, the easternmost point of the province, revealed numerous archaeological remains of Stone Age settlements, with large quantities of Neolithic pottery being found. The Greeks settled on the coasts of Calabria during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, and the city of Crotone was founded, under the name of "Kroton", by Greek Achaeans in around 710 BC. It grew to become a town of 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants around 500 BC. The wrestler Milo of Croton was born in Crotone during the sixth century BC and the town had a great reputation for prowess in athletics having produced many Olympic champions. Pythagoras moved to Croton in around 530 BC, and a medical school was also based in the region at around this time. It flourished as an important port and conquered the city Sybaris under the command of Milo. Pyrrhus of Epirus then controlled the city until it fell under Roman Republic rule. The city Crotone participated in the Second Punic War, in which, it rebelled and fought against its Roman Republic rulers.
The province of Crotone was formed in 1992 from land that had previously been part of the province of Catanzaro.
Geography.
The province of Crotone is one of the five provinces in the region of Calabria in southern Italy. To the northwest lies the Province of Cosenza and to the southwest lies the Province of Catanzaro. To the south and east, the province has a coastline on the Gulf of Taranto, part of the Mediterranean Sea.
The northwesterly part of Crotone forms part of the high plateau of La Sila and includes part of the Sila National Park, a rugged wilderness area which has open heathland, and forests of pine, oak, beech and fir. In the upland areas chestnuts and olives are grown, and most of the province is a lowland agricultural area with orchards of citrus fruits and vineyards. The rivers are short and many dry up in summer.
Tourism.
Crotone has a long history and many interesting features. The cathedral originates from the 9th to 11th centuries AD but has seen many changes to its architecture over the years. The 16th century castle of Charles V houses the local museum, but an older castle is located on an island just offshore and can only be approached by foot. Near the town are the remains of the Greek temple of "Hera Lacinia", at one time the most important temple in Magna Graecia.
The historic town of Santa Severina dates back to the ninth century BC when the "Enotri", an ancient Italian tribe, inhabited the region. It later became an important Byzantine trading centre. It is built on the top of a steep-sided hill with the castle on the summit. The castle is one of the best-preserved Norman structures in the region and now houses the Archaeological Museum of Castles and Fortifications in Calabria. In the main square stands the Cathedral of Saint Anastasia, which dates back to 1274, and nearby is the Baptistry, a fine example of Byzantine architecture from the seventh to ninth centuries, and probably the oldest such structure in Calabria. On the other side of the castle stands the eleventh century Church of Santo Filomena, another fine Byzantine edifice.
Pallagorio is another ancient town. The "Cave of St. Maurice" was occupied in Neolithic times, Greek colonists settled here in around the seventh century BC, and Roman colonists did likewise several centuries later, and traces of their villas remain near the river. In medieval times, the village situated here came to be known as "San Giovanni in Palagorio". It now has many interesting churches and chapels.
Umbriatico was founded by the Oenotrians before Greek colonists arrived in this district and founded nearby Kroton. It is situated on a rocky hill and accessible via a bridge over the river. During the Second Punic War it had a defensive wall, but this did not prevent the Romans from storming it and massacring the citizens. The Cathedral of San Donato has a crypt which was originally a Greek temple, with Doric columns.


Namur Province

Namur (; ; ) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French departments of Nord and Ardennes. Its capital and largest city is the city of Namur. As of January 2019, the province of Namur has population of 494,325.
Subdivisions.
It has an area of and is divided into three administrative districts ("arrondissements" in French) containing a total of 38 municipalities ("communes" in French).
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 13.5 billion € in 2018, accounting for 2.9% of Belgiums economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 24,000 € or 80% of the EU27 average in the same year. GDP per person employed was 104% of the EU27 average.
Twinning.
The Province of Namur is twinned with:


Hiiu County

Hiiumaa is one of 15 counties of Estonia, being the smallest county both in terms of area and population. It consists of Hiiumaa (German and ), the second largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it. The county borders Lääne County to the east and Saare County to the south.
History.
Human habitation of Hiiumaa can be traced back to the 5th millennium BC. Mesolithic sites in Kõpu peninsula are exemplified by the seal-hunters' settlements. There are several well-preserved grave fields of the Iron Age. In 1228, the island was first mentioned in written annals under the name "Dageida". In 1254, Hiiumaa was divided between the Livonian Order and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek. In 1563 Hiiumaa was annexed into Sweden. In 1710, as a result of the Great Northern War the island went under the control of the Russian Empire. During World War I, the German military forces occupied Hiiumaa in 1917. In 1918–1940 Hiiumaa was part of the Republic of Estonia, then until 1991 occupied by the Soviet Union.
On demands of the Hanseatic League a lighthouse was built in Kõpu (previously known as "Dagerort") at the beginning of the 16th century. It is considered the third-oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the world, still showing its light to of the sea.
Most of the farm architecture comes from the 19th century. Prominent examples include the Mihkli farming complex and Soera farm-museum with historical national artifacts, respectively.
Sights.
Most important sights:
County government.
The County Government () is led by Governor (), who is appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years. Since March 2012, the Governor position is held by Riho Rahuoja.
Municipalities.
The county consists of one municipality after the administrative reform of 2017. Between 2013 and 2017 the county was subdivided into 4 municipalities ( – parishes). The only urban settlement Kärdla is part of Hiiumaa Parish since 2017.
Rural municipalities:
Geography.
The county includes the islands of Hiiumaa () and Kassari () and a number of surrounding islets. The highest point is Tornimägi hill (), the longest river is Luguse (), and the biggest lake is Tihu Suurjärv ().
In the landscapes there can be found pine forests, mixed spruce and deciduous forests, swampy thickets and juniper shrubs, coastal meadows and bogs. The most frequent tree is pine which makes about a half of forests. Pine is followed by birch, spruce and alder. In total, there are about 1,000 species of vascular plants, of which about 100 are under protection. The wildlife of Hiiumaa is remarkable. Out of 30 species of mammals, big game as elk, deer, fox, wild boar and lynx roam the island. There are about 250 species of birds on the island, 195 of them nesting.
Among the Estonian counties Hiiumaa is the richest in forest – nearly 60% of the island are wooded areas. There are large marsh areas in the middle of the island. The marshes cover about 7% of its area. Cultivated land and settlements take about 23% of the area of the county.


Province of Matera

The province of Matera (; Materano: ) is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Matera. It has an area of and a total population of 201,133; the city Matera has a population of 61,204. There are 31 comunes (Italian: "comuni") in the province (see Comunes of the Province of Matera). The province of Matera is bordered by the province of Potenza in the west and south, the region of Calabria also to the south, the region of Apulia to the east and north, and by the Ionian Sea to the southeast.
The history of settlement in the region dates back to the Palaeolithic Period and the first instance of organised settlement was in 251 BCE, when Roman Republic consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus founded the town as Matera. Matera was sacked multiple times; initially by the Franks, then by Roman Emperor Louis II of Italy, and then by invading Muslims during the 10th century. Following this, the town was owned by the Capetian House of Anjou and the Crown of Aragon and was sold multiple times to successive wealthy families.
Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera was briefly leader of the city but was despised by the residents, who saw him as tyrannical and rebelled against him, murdering Tramontano on 29 December 1514. The city Matera was announced to be the capital of ancient district Lucania (Basilicata) in 1663; this status was removed from the city in 1806 and 1860. Under the Fascist rule of Italy, the title of Matera serving as the capital of Basilicata was restored in 1927. The province is known for its history of "cave dwellings" known as "sassi".
Communes.
The main comunes by population are ():


Pest County

Pest (, ; ) is a county ("megye") in central Hungary. It covers an area of , and has a population of 1,213,090 (2009). It surrounds the national capital Budapest and the majority of the county's population (65.2%/790,995 in 2009) live in the suburbs of Budapest. It shares borders with Slovakia and the Hungarian counties , , , , , and . The River Danube flows through the county. The capital of Pest County is Budapest (administratively separate), but it is planned to completely separate the capital from the county at least until 2020, as it loses catch-up aids from the European Union because of the high development of Budapest.
History.
The present county Pest was formed after World War II, when the former county Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun was split in two parts (the other part is within present-day ). Pest County also existed in the early days of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (11th century). Its territory comprised approximately the north-eastern part of present Pest County. It was combined with adjacent Pilis county before the 15th century. More information can be found at the entry of former Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county.
Demographics.
In 2015, it had a population of 1,226,115 and the population density was 192/km².
Ethnicity.
Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Germans (approx. 25,000), Roma (20,000), Slovaks (6,000), Romanians (4,000) and Serbs (1,500).
Total population (2011 census): 1,217,476
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 1,090,882 persons:
Approx. 178,000 persons in Pest County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
Religion.
Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the county was 13.8 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 10.3% of Hungary's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 17,000 euros or 56% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 69% of the EU average.
Politics.
The Pest County Council, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 44 counselors, with the following party composition:
Municipalities.
Pest County has 1+(Budapest) urban county, 47 towns, 17 large villages and 122 villages.
 municipalities are "large" villages.
International relations.
Pest County has a partnership relationship with: