Editing Administrative division (section)

== Description ==
Usually, [[sovereign state]]s have several levels of administrative division. Common names for the principal (largest) administrative divisions include: [[Federated state|states]] (subnational states, rather than sovereign states), [[province]]s, [[Land (disambiguation)|lands]]{{Disambiguation needed|date=March 2025}}, [[oblast]]s and [[Region#Administrative regions|regions]]. These in turn are often subdivided into smaller administrative units known by names such as [[comarca]]s, [[raion]]s or [[district]]s, which are further subdivided into [[municipality|municipalities]], [[Commune (administrative division)|commune]]s or communities constituting the smallest units of subdivision (the [[local government]]s). Some administrative division names (such as [[Department (administrative division)|departments]], [[Canton (administrative division)|canton]]s, [[prefecture]]s, [[County|counties]] or [[governorate]]s) can be used for principal, second-level, or third-level divisions.

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

The principal administrative division of a country is sometimes called the "''first-level'' (or ''first-order'') administrative division" or "first administrative level". Its next subdivision might be called "second-level administrative division" or "second administrative level" and so on.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL)|publisher=FAO |website=GeoNetwork |url=http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?id=12691&currTab=simple|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924150111/http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?id=12691&currTab=simple|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Second Administrative Level Boundaries {{!}} Geospatial Information Section & Statistics Division {{!}} United Nations|url=https://www.unsalb.org/ |website=unsalb.org |access-date=2021-03-26|archive-date=2021-04-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404034644/https://www.unsalb.org/|url-status=dead }}</ref> An alternative terminology is provided by the [[Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics]] which terms the principal division as the second level or NUTS-2.

Administrative divisions are conceptually separate from [[dependent territory|dependent territories]], with the former being an integral part of the state and the other being only under some lesser form of control. However, the term "administrative division" can include dependent territories as well as accepted administrative divisions (for example, in [[geographical database]]s).{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Communities united in a [[federation]] under a federal government are more specifically known as [[federated state]]s. A federated state may be referred to as a province, region, canton, land, governorate, oblast, emirate, or country.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.forumfed.org/en/products/magazine/vol8_num2/overview-dependency.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218004657/http://www.forumfed.org/en/products/magazine/vol8_num2/overview-dependency.php |archive-date=2010-12-18 |last1=Bird |first1=Richard M |website= [[Forum of Federations]] |access-date=2009-11-01 |date= 2009 |title=Overview: Constituent units risk lengthy dependency on federal aid }}</ref><ref>''The Australian National Dictionary: Fourth Edition'', pg 1395. (2004) Canberra. {{ISBN|978-0-19-551771-2}}.</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/89503/California California] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504181415/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/89503/California |date=2015-05-04 }}. [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Accessed 2009-11-01.</ref> Administrative units that are not federated or confederated but enjoy a greater degree of autonomy or self-government than other territories within the same country can be considered [[Autonomous administrative division|autonomous regions]] or de facto constituent states of that country. This relationship is by some authors called a [[federacy]] or [[asymmetric federalism]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Stepan |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Stepan |title=Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model |url=https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/fesnic/fspub/6_7_Stepan_1999_Federalism_J_of_Dem.pdf |journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=19–34 |year=1999 |doi=10.1353/jod.1999.0072 |s2cid=201765897 }}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> An example is the autonomous republic of [[Karakalpakstan]] within [[Uzbekistan]].<ref>[http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/8be9009ac37f2d75c1256f17004b6e68/$FILE/G0443118.doc International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010055933/http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/8be9009ac37f2d75c1256f17004b6e68/$FILE/G0443118.doc |date=2017-10-10 }}, p 5. United Nations [[Human Rights Committee]]. Accessed 2009-11-01.</ref>