Administrative districts of Serbia

Administrative districts
Управни окрузи
*Upravni okruzi*
Administrative districts; Управни окрузи; Upravni okruzi
Category	Unitary state
Location	Serbia
Number	24 Districts (29 including Kosovo) + City of Belgrade
Populations	77,341 (Toplica) – 1,681,405 (Belgrade)
Areas	1,248 km2 (482 sq mi) (Podunavlje) – 6,140 km2 (2,370 sq mi) (Zlatibor)
Government	District government, National government;
Subdivisions	Municipality and city;

An administrative district (Serbian: управни округ, upravni okrug) of Serbia is the country's first-level administrative division. The term okrug (pl. okruzi) means "circuit" and corresponds (in literal meaning) to Bezirk in German language. It can be translated as "county", though it is generally rendered by the Serbian government as "district". Prior to a 2006 decree, the administrative districts were named simply districts.

The Serbian local government reforms of 1992, going into effect the following year, created 29 districts,[1] with the City of Belgrade having similar status. Following the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, the districts created by the UNMIK-Administration were adopted by Kosovo. The Serbian government does not recognize these districts.

The districts of Serbia are generally named after historical and geographical regions, though some, such as the Pčinja District and the Nišava District, are named after local rivers. Their areas and populations vary, ranging from the relatively-small Podunavlje District to the much larger Zlatibor District.

As they are mere designations of territorial remit of regional administrative centres through which the central government exercises its power within a hierarchical order, the districts are distinctly not units of regional self-governance, and as such they do not have flags. Still, they are each run by a commissioner as well as cooperating municipal leaders. Rather than being further divisible into municipalities, each district overlaps with its corresponding cluster of municipalities (which are units of local self-governance).

Definition

Administrative districts were first defined by the Government of Serbia's Decree of 29 January 1992, which specifies that Ministries and other national-level agencies shall conduct their affairs outside their headquarters (i.e. outside the seat of government) via regional offices that they may establish per the designated clusters of municipalities (named only "districts"), also designating the administrative seat of each district ("regional center of state administration").[2] The 2005 Law on Public Administration provided a legal definition of a district, under the term "administrative district".[3]

An administrative district shall be established for the execution of state administration tasks outside the headquarters of the state administration authority.
...
The Government shall establish administrative districts by its regulation, by which it shall also determine areas and seats of administrative districts.

In 2006, the Government enacted the Decree on Administrative Districts, which renamed the districts into administrative districts.[4]

The territorial organisation of Serbia is regulated by the Law on Territorial Organization, adopted by the National Assembly on 29 December 2007.[5] According to the Law, the territorial organization of the republic comprises municipalities and cities, the City of Belgrade with special status, and autonomous provinces. Districts are not mentioned in this law.

List of districts

Serbia is divided into 29 districts (8 in Šumadija and Western Serbia, 9 in Southern and Eastern Serbia, 7 in Vojvodina and 5 in Kosovo and Metohija), plus the City of Belgrade. The City of Belgrade is not part of any district, but has a special status very similar to that of a district.

Šumadija and Western Serbia

District	Seat	Area in km²	Population 2022	Population per km²	Municipalities and cities	Settlements
Kolubara District (Kolubarski okrug)	Valjevo	2,474	154,497	62.4	Osečina Ub Lajkovac City of Valjevo Mionica Ljig	218
Mačva District (Mačvanski okrug)	Šabac	3,268	265,377	81.2	Bogatić City of Šabac City of Loznica Vladimirci Koceljeva Mali Zvornik Krupanj Ljubovija	228
Moravica District (Moravički okrug)	Čačak	3,016	189,281	62.8	Gornji Milanovac City of Čačak Lučani Ivanjica	206
Pomoravlje District (Pomoravski okrug)	Jagodina	2,614	182,047	69.6	City of Jagodina Ćuprija Paraćin Svilajnac Despotovac Rekovac	191
Rasina District (Rasinski okrug)	Kruševac	2,667	207,197	77.7	Varvarin Trstenik Ćićevac City of Kruševac Aleksandrovac Brus	296
Raška District (Raški okrug)	Kraljevo	3,918	296,532	75.7	City of Kraljevo Vrnjačka Banja Raška City of Novi Pazar Tutin	359
Šumadija District (Šumadijski okrug)	Kragujevac	2,387	269,728	113.0	Aranđelovac Topola Rača Batočina Knić Lapovo City of Kragujevac	174
Zlatibor District (Zlatiborski okrug)	Užice	6,140	254,659	41.5	Bajina Bašta Kosjerić City of Užice Požega Čajetina Arilje Nova Varoš Prijepolje Sjenica Priboj	438

Southern and Eastern Serbia

District	Seat	Area in km²	Population 2022	Population per km²	Municipalities and cities	Settlements
Bor District (Borski okrug)	Bor	3,507	101,100	28.8	City of Bor Kladovo Majdanpek Negotin	90
Braničevo District (Braničevski okrug)	Požarevac	3,865	156,367	40.5	Veliko Gradište City of Požarevac Golubac Malo Crniće Žabari Petrovac Kučevo Žagubica	189
Jablanica District (Jablanički okrug)	Leskovac	2,769	184,502	66.6	City of Leskovac Bojnik Lebane Medveđa Vlasotince Crna Trava	336
Nišava District (Nišavski okrug)	Niš	2,729	343,950	126.0	Aleksinac Svrljig Merošina Ražanj Doljevac Gadžin Han City of Niš	285
Pčinja District (Pčinjski okrug)	Vranje	3,520	193,802	55.1	Vladičin Han Surdulica Bosilegrad Trgovište City of Vranje Bujanovac Preševo	363
Pirot District (Pirotski okrug)	Pirot	2,761	76,700	27.8	Bela Palanka City of Pirot Babušnica Dimitrovgrad	214
Podunavlje District (Podunavski okrug)	Smederevo	1,248	175,573	140.7	City of Smederevo Smederevska Palanka Velika Plana	58
Toplica District (Toplički okrug)	Prokuplje	2,231	77,341	34.7	City of Prokuplje Blace Kuršumlija Žitorađa	267
Zaječar District (Zaječarski okrug)	Zaječar	3,623	96,715	26.7	Boljevac Knjaževac City of Zaječar Sokobanja	173

Vojvodina

District	Seat	Area in km²	Population 2022	Population per km²	Municipalities and cities	Settlements
Central Banat District (Srednjebanatski okrug)	Zrenjanin	3,256	157,711	48.4	Novi Bečej Nova Crnja Žitište Sečanj City of Zrenjanin	55
North Bačka District (Severnobački okrug)	Subotica	1,784	160,163	89.8	City of Subotica Bačka Topola Mali Iđoš	45
North Banat District (Severnobanatski okrug)	Kikinda	2,329	117,896	50.6	Kanjiža Senta Ada Čoka Novi Kneževac City of Kikinda	50
South Bačka District (Južnobački okrug)	Novi Sad	4,016	607,178	151.2	Srbobran Bač Bečej Vrbas Bačka Palanka Bački Petrovac Žabalj Titel Temerin Beočin Sremski Karlovci City of Novi Sad	77
South Banat District (Južnobanatski okrug)	Pančevo	4,245	260,244	61.3	Plandište Opovo Kovačica Alibunar City of Vršac Bela Crkva City of Pančevo Kovin	94
Srem District (Sremski okrug)	Sremska Mitrovica	3,486	282,547	81.1	Šid Inđija City of Sremska Mitrovica Irig Ruma Stara Pazova Pećinci	109
West Bačka District (Zapadnobački okrug)	Sombor	2,420	154,491	63.8	City of Sombor Apatin Odžaci Kula	37

Kosovo

Serbian laws treat Kosovo as integral part of Serbia (Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija). The 1992 Decree defines five districts on the territory of Kosovo.[5] But, from 1999, following the Kosovo War, Kosovo was governed under the United Nations' administration of UNMIK. In 2000, the UNMIK administration changed the territorial organisation on the territory of Kosovo. All five districts were abolished, and seven new districts were created, which were later adopted by Kosovo after the 2008 declaration of Independence. The Serbian government does not recognize this move, and claims the pre-2000 five districts as following:

District	Seat	Area in km²	Population 2023	Population per km²	Municipalities and cities
Kosovo District (Kosovski okrug)	Pristina	3,310	570,835	172.5	Pristina Glogovac Kosovo Polje Lipljan Obilić Podujevo Ferizaj Štimlje Kaçanik Štrpce
Kosovo-Pomoravlje District (Kosovsko-Pomoravski okrug)	Gnjilane	1,389	184,864	133.1	Kamenica Novo Brdo Gjilan Vitina
Kosovska Mitrovica District (Kosovskomitrovički okrug)	Kosovska Mitrovica	2,053	234,262	114.1	Mitrovica Leposavić Skenderaj Vučitrn Zubin Potok Zvečan
Peć District (Pećki okrug)	Peć	2,459	351,680	143.2	Peja Istok Klina Gjakova Deçan
Prizren District (Prizrenski okrug)	Prizren	2,196	319,330	145.4	Orahovac Suva Reka Prizren Gora

Notes and references

Notes

References

"Facts about Serbia". Government of Serbia. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
"Uredba o načinu vršenja poslova ministarstava i posebnih organizacija van njihovog sedišta" [Decree on the manner of carrying out the work of ministries and special organizations outside of their seat] (PDF). arhiva.drzavnauprava.gov.rs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
"Law on State Administration" (PDF). Military Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
"Uredba o upravnim okruzima — Викизворник". sr.wikisource.org (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved 2023-02-26.
"Zakon o teritorijalnoj organizaciji Srbije" (in Serbian). Parliament of Serbia.

Sources

Balinovac, Zoran M.; Damjanović, Jasmina (2006). Miklič, Peter (ed.). The government and state administration system in the Republic of Serbia – compilation of laws and explanatory articles (PDF). Translated by Čavoški, Aleksandra; Vuruna, Dejan. Belgrade: Dial, Grafolik. ISBN 86-902823-3-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
"Uredba o Upravnim okruzima" (PDF). Službeni glasnik Republike Srbije/Sl. Glasnik RS. 15. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-05. Retrieved 2017-11-01.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[facts-1] "Facts about Serbia". Government of Serbia. Retrieved 2008-09-29.

[2] "Uredba o načinu vršenja poslova ministarstava i posebnih organizacija van njihovog sedišta" [Decree on the manner of carrying out the work of ministries and special organizations outside of their seat] (PDF). arhiva.drzavnauprava.gov.rs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2023-02-26.

[3] "Law on State Administration" (PDF). Military Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2023-02-26.

[4] "Uredba o upravnim okruzima — Викизворник". sr.wikisource.org (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved 2023-02-26.

[law-5] "Zakon o teritorijalnoj organizaciji Srbije" (in Serbian). Parliament of Serbia.

Districts of Serbia
Vojvodina	Central Banat North Bačka North Banat South Bačka South Banat Srem West Bačka
Belgrade	City of Belgrade
Šumadija and Western Serbia	Kolubara Mačva Moravica Pomoravlje Rasina Raška Šumadija Zlatibor
Southern and Eastern Serbia	Bor Braničevo Jablanica Nišava Pčinja Pirot Podunavlje Toplica Zaječar
Kosovo and Metohija¹	Kosovo Kosovo-Pomoravlje Kosovska Mitrovica Peć Prizren
¹ Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but is still claimed as part of its territory by Serbia.

First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia² Austria Azerbaijan¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey¹ Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Kosovo Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia² Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.