page_title: Amphoe
section_title: Amphoe mueang
hierarchical_section_title: Amphoe / Amphoe mueang
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Tour de l'horloge à Chiang Rai de nuit, lumière violette Français&#160;: Clock tower in Chiang Rai at night, with purple light
context_page_description: An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as "district". Amphoe make up the provinces, and are analogous to counties. The chief district officer is Nai Amphoe. Amphoe are divided into tambons, or sub-districts.
  Altogether Thailand has 878 districts, not including the 50 districts of Bangkok which are called khet since the Bangkok administrative reform of 1972. The number of amphoe in provinces varies, from only three in the smallest provinces, up to the 50 urban districts of Bangkok. Also the sizes and population of amphoe differ greatly. The smallest population is in Ko Kut with just 2,042 citizens, while Mueang Samut Prakan has 509,262 citizens. The khet of Bangkok have the smallest areas—Khet Samphanthawong is the smallest, with only 1.4 km²—while the amphoe of the sparsely populated mountain regions are bigger than some provinces. Umphang at 4,325.4 km² is the largest and also has the lowest population density.
  The names of amphoe are usually unique, but in a few cases different Thai names have the same form in English due to the flaws of the romanization system.
context_section_description: The district which contains the administrative office of the province is the amphoe mueang (lit. town district). The district should not to be confused with the capital town itself, which is a different administrative entity usually much smaller than the district. Until the 1930s, most of the capital districts had names just like other districts, whereas districts dating back to old provinces had the word mueang in their name. In 1938 all the capital districts were renamed amphoe mueang, whereas in all non-capital districts mueang was removed from the name. The notable exception to this rule is Ayutthaya, where the capital district is named Amphoe Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (instead of Amphoe Mueang Ayutthaya), the same as the province, which is fully named Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. Also the capital districts of Thonburi and Phra Nakhon Provinces had the same name as the province, which they kept when the two provinces were merged to form Bangkok metropolis.
  In most cases the capital district is also the most populous district of the province, as the provincial administration is usually in the largest town of the province. Songkhla Province is the most striking exception, as the town (and thus also the district) Hat Yai grew much faster than the capital Mueang Songkhla due to its better transport connections.
  There are four districts in Thailand (Chan, Pan, Suang, and Yang) which contain the term mueang in their name as well, even though they are not capital districts. All of these were created relatively recently, between 1973 and 1995.
caption: The Mueang Chiang Rai city clock tower in the centre of amphoe meaung Chiang Rai
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