Editing Sierra Leone (section)

=== Administrative divisions ===

{{Main|Administrative divisions of Sierra Leone}}

[[File:Districts in Sierra Leone 2018.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone]]
The Republic of Sierra Leone is composed of five regions: the [[Northern Province, Sierra Leone|Northern Province]], [[North West Province, Sierra Leone|North West Province]], [[Southern Province, Sierra Leone|Southern Province]], the [[Eastern Province, Sierra Leone|Eastern Province]], and the [[Western Area]]. Four provinces are further divided into 14 districts; the Western Area is divided into two districts.

The provincial districts are divided into 186 chiefdoms, which have traditionally been led by [[paramount chiefs]], recognised by the British administration in 1896 at the time of organising the Protectorate of Sierra Leone. The Paramount Chiefs are influential, particularly in [[villages]] and small rural towns.<ref name="Tristan">[http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jrobinson/files/history.pdf Tristan Reed and James A. Robinson, ''The Chiefdoms of Sierra Leone''], ''Scholar'', Harvard University, 15 July 2013, accessed 30 April 2014</ref> Each chiefdom has ruling families that were recognised at that time; the Tribal Authority, made up of local notables, elects the paramount chief from the ruling families.<ref name="Tristan"/> Typically, chiefs have the power to "raise taxes, control the judicial system, and allocate land, the most important resource in rural areas".<ref>Daron Acemoglu, Tristan Reed. and James A. Robinson. [http://public-prod-acquia.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pe_10_13_Robinson_0.pdf "Chiefs: Economic Development and Elite Control of Civil Society in Sierra Leone"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305101740/http://public-prod-acquia.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pe_10_13_Robinson_0.pdf |date=5 March 2016 }}, Stanford University, 29 August 2013, accessed 30 April 2014</ref>

Within the context of local governance, the districts are governed as ''localities''. Each has a directly elected local district council to exercise authority and carry out functions at a local level.<ref name="Renner-Thomas 2010 6–7">{{Cite book |last =Renner-Thomas |first = Ade |title = Land Tenure in Sierra Leone: The Law, Dualism and the Making of a Land Policy |publisher =AuthorHouse |year =2010 |pages = 6–7 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=RiIpW6vWVPoC&pg=PA5|isbn=978-1-4490-5866-1|access-date=17 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = ActionAid launches Perception survey as new local councils struggle to survive |publisher = ActionAid |url = http://www.actionaid.org/tanzania/index.aspx?PageID=3925 |access-date = 26 February 2011 |archive-date = 25 September 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220925152420/http://www.actionaid.org/tanzania/index.aspx?PageID=3925 |url-status = dead }}</ref> In total, there are 19 local councils: 13 district councils, one for each of the 12 districts and one for the Western Area Rural, and six municipalities also have elected local councils. The six municipalities include Freetown, which functions as the local government for the Western Area Urban District, and [[Bo, Sierra Leone|Bo]], [[Bonthe]], [[Kenema]], [[Koidu]], and [[Makeni]].<ref name="Renner-Thomas 2010 6–7"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Sierra Leone|url=http://www.clgf.org.uk/regions/clgf-west-africa/sierra-leone/|website=Commonwealth Local Government Forum|access-date=12 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sierra Leone Human Development Report 2007 – Empowering Local Government for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction – The District Focus Approach to Development |url=http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/sierraleone_nhdr_20071.pdf|website=[[United Nations Development Programme]]|access-date=12 January 2018}}</ref>

While the district councils are under the oversight of their respective provincial administrations, the municipalities are directly overseen by the Ministry of Local Government & Community Development and thus administratively independent of district and provincial administrations.

{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
!District!!Capital|!!Area (km<sup>2</sup>)||Province||Population<br /> (2004 census)<ref>{{cite web |title =Final Results 2004 population and housing census |publisher=Statistics Sierra Leone |url=http://www.sierra-leone.org/Census/ssl_final_results.pdf|page=3|access-date=17 June 2014}}</ref><!--These are the official figures please do not change without discussion-->||Population<br /> (2015 census)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.statistics.sl/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2015-Census-Provisional-Result.pdf |title=Provisional Results |work=Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census |date=March 2016 |publisher=Statistics Sierra Leone}}</ref>
|-
|[[Bombali District]] ||[[Makeni]]||align="right"|7,985||rowspan="5"|[[Northern Province, Sierra Leone|Northern<br /> Province]]||align="right"|408,390||align="right"|606,183<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6636 |title=Bombali – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
||[[Koinadugu District]] ||[[Kabala, Sierra Leone|Kabala]]||align="right"|12,121||align="right"|265,758||align="right"|408,097<ref name="Port Loko">{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6644 |title=Port Loko |publisher=World-gazetteer.com |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Port Loko District]] ||[[Port Loko]]||align="right"|5,719||align="right"|453,746||align="right"|614,063<ref name="Port Loko"/>
|-
|[[Tonkolili District]] ||[[Magburaka]]||align="right"|7,003||align="right"|347,197||align="right"|530,776<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6647 |title=Tonkolili – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Kambia District]] ||[[Kambia, Sierra Leone|Kambia]]||align="right"|3,108||align="right"|270,462||align="right"|343,686<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6639 |title=Kambia – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Kenema District]] ||[[Kenema]]||align="right"|6,053||rowspan="3"|[[Eastern Province, Sierra Leone|Eastern<br /> Province]]||align="right"|497,948||align="right"|609,873<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6640 |title=Kenema – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Kono District]] ||[[Koidu|Koidu Town]] ||align="right"|5,641||align="right"|335,401||align="right"|505,767<ref name="World Gazetteer">{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6638 |title=Kailahun – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Kailahun District]] ||[[Kailahun]] ||align="right"|3,859||align="right"|358,190||align="right"|525,372<ref name="World Gazetteer"/>
|-
|[[Bo District]] ||[[Bo, Sierra Leone|Bo]] ||align="right"|5,219||rowspan="4"|[[Southern Province, Sierra Leone|Southern<br /> Province]]||align="right"|463,668||align="right"|574,201<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6635 |title=Bo – profile of geographical entity including name variants |publisher=World Gazetteer |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|-
|[[Bonthe District]] ||[[Mattru Jong]] ||align="right"|3,468||align="right"|139,687||align="right"|200,730<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6637 |title=Bonthe |publisher=World-gazetteer.com |access-date=20 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121216134834/http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6637 |archive-date=16 December 2012 }}</ref>
|-
|[[Pujehun District]] ||[[Pujehun]] ||align="right"|4,105||align="right"|228,392 ||align="right"|345,577
|-
|[[Moyamba District]] ||[[Moyamba]] ||align="right"|6,902||align="right"|260,910 ||align="right"|318,064
|-
|[[Western Area Urban District]] ||[[Freetown]] ||align="right"|13||rowspan="2"|[[Western Area|Western<br /> Area]]||align="right"|772,873||align="right"|1,050,301
|-
|[[Western Area Rural District]] ||[[Waterloo, Sierra Leone|Waterloo]] ||align="right"|544||align="right"|174,249||align="right"|442,951
|}
{{Clear}}