Administrative division of Slovakia
The administrative structure of Slovakia has been subject to intense change throughout history. The Slovakia is administratively since 1996 in eight regional associations in 79 country districts divided.
Terms
For a better understanding of the Slovak technical terms, here are a few brief explanations and translation aids:
- krajina - country (Slovakia)
- oblasť - area / region (only plays a role in the NUTS breakdown )
- kraj - is translated as "state district, district, district, district, area, country, landscape, landscape association, region"
- samosprávny kraj - self-governing regional district (the largest administrative unit of the Slovak parliament; spatially identical to the territory of the regional district)
- obvod - City District (City District Office (Slovak: Obvodný úrad ))
- okres - district or district (corresponds in fact and historically to the Austrian political district established in the 19th century ; the approximate equivalent in Germany are the districts)
- mesto - city
- obec - municipality
Graphical representation
Classification
Slovakia is divided into the following smaller units according to three classification principles.
Territorial division
There are the following levels of regional breakdown:
- District (Slovak: kraj) : 8
- County (Slovak: okres) : 79
- City (Slovak: mesto) : 138
- Parish (Slovak: obec) : 2883
State administration
The following levels of government administration have existed since October 2013:
- Government, ministries and other bodies
- District Office (Slovak: okresný úrad ) is responsible for a district (Okres) . In a major administrative reform, 72 district offices were reintroduced on October 1, 2013; they had already existed as such in the period 1990–2003.
They replaced 248 city district offices (obvodné úrady) , which were responsible for the city districts.
Self-government through popular representation
Districts
The self-governing district (Slovak: samosprávny kraj) , in the constitution Higher Territorial Unit (vyšší územný celok) and informally or colloquially also called County (župa) , was introduced on January 1, 2002 . The terms župa and župan are (still) avoided by the population because they sound out of date (there were counties until 1927 and then 1940–1945) and / or because one erroneously assumes that they are Hungarian terms (for more details, see under County), on the other hand because the Slovak word župa is reminiscent of the Slovak žumpa (German: cesspool) and the Slovak word župan also means “bathrobe”.
A self-governing district is the people's assembly elected by the citizens (Slovak: zastupiteľstvo) with a directly elected chairman (predseda) . This can also be called “Gespan” (župan) for short . According to the 1996 law, the state districts are identical in terms of area to the self-governing state districts.
Municipalities and cities
The self-government form of the municipality (obec) already took place in 1990 . A municipality also has a representative and a directly elected mayor (starosta) . Municipalities that are cities have a lord mayor (primátor) . The municipal office and the municipal police report directly to the mayor. Only the municipalities of Bratislava and Košice have two levels of municipal self-government: for the city (the so-called municipal administration) and for the city districts. Accordingly, you also have a lord mayor and several mayors in the individual districts. The division of competencies in both cities is regulated by special laws.
List of national districts in Slovakia
The names of the eight districts are derived from the names of their capitals:
Code number | ISO 3166-2 | Surname | Administrative headquarters | Area in km² |
Residents | Density of population / km² |
Subdivision |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | SK-BL | Bratislavský kraj | Bratislava | 2,053 | 669,592 | 326 | 8 counties |
02 | SK-TA | Trnavský kraj | Trnava | 4.158 | 564.917 | 136 | 7 counties |
03 | SK-TC | Trenčiansky kraj | Trenčín | 4,502 | 584,569 | 130 | 9 counties |
04 | SK-NI | Nitriansky kraj | Nitra | 6.344 | 674.306 | 106 | 7 counties |
05 | SK-ZI | Žilinský kraj | Žilina | 6,809 | 691.509 | 102 | 11 counties |
06 | SK-BC | Banskobystrický kraj | Banská Bystrica | 9,454 | 645.276 | 68 | 13 counties |
07 | SK-PV | Prešovský kraj | Prešov | 8,974 | 826.244 | 92 | 13 counties |
08 | SK-KI | Košický kraj | Košice | 6,755 | 801.460 | 119 | 11 counties |
SK | 49,049 | 5,457,873 | 111 | 79 counties |
- Regional district Bratislava spatially identical to the self-governing state district Bratislava
- Trnava regional district spatially identical to the Trnava self-governing regional district
- Trenčín regional district spatially identical to the Trenčín self-governing regional district
- Nitra regional district spatially identical to the Nitra self-governing regional district
- Regional district Žilina spatially identical to the self-governing regional district Žilina
- Regional district Banská Bystrica spatially identical to the self-governing regional district Banská Bystrica
- Prešov regional district spatially identical to the Prešov self-governing regional district
- Košice regional district spatially identical to the Košice self-governing regional district
List of regions
The regions correspond to the NUTS-2 breakdowns. There are four regions:
- Bratislavský kraj (SK01) - is to be equated with one regional district
- Western Slovakia (Slovak: Západné Slovensko) (SK02) - Trnavský kraj , Trenčiansky kraj and Nitriansky kraj ,
- Central Slovakia (Slovak: Stredné Slovensko) (SK03) - Žilinský kraj and Banskobystrický kraj
- Eastern Slovakia (Slovak: Východné Slovensko) (SK04) - Prešovský kraj and Košický kraj
history
Counties have existed in Slovakia since the 19th century (see Okres ), but with very often changing competencies, boundaries and numbers (for example 1949-1960: 89, 1960-1968: 33, 1968-1996: 37, later 38 ).
On January 1, 1949, the provincial districts were introduced in Slovakia for the first time - then six: Bratislavský kraj, Nitriansky kraj, Žilinský kraj, Banskobystrický kraj, Prešovský kraj and Košický kraj . However, they each had completely different limits and competencies than their current successors. In 1960 their number was reduced to three; the Východoslovenský kraj (East Slovak District), the Stredoslovenský kraj (Central Slovak District) and the Západoslovenský kraj (West Slovak District) were created.
On January 1, 1969, Bratislava received a special status as the “capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic”. On July 1, 1969, the districts in Slovakia (in contrast to the Czech Republic ) were temporarily abolished, but had to be reintroduced in the course of the normalization regime after the failed Prague Spring from 1970. Bratislava remained a kind of fourth district. This administrative structure lasted until the end of communism in Slovakia ( Velvet Revolution of 1989). During this time, Bratislava was divided into so-called city districts (1960-1971: twelve, 1971-1985: four, 1985-1990/1996 (?): Five). These urban districts, which are identical to today's five districts in the area of the city of Bratislava, have (also) functioned as districts since the 1970s, but otherwise Bratislava was considered a single district.
In September 1990, on the one hand, the four state districts were abolished, and on the other hand, after a long time, municipalities were again defined as self-governing units.
In July 1996, the current eight districts were finally introduced, which are composed of 79 districts. In December 2001, the self-governing districts were introduced. On January 1, 2004, the districts were finally abolished as part of the public administration (i.e. the district offices) and the city district offices were introduced as administrative units. At the same time, the competencies of the two levels of self-government have been continuously expanded since 2001, most recently through a law that granted them extensive competencies in taxes and finances from 2005.
On October 1, 2013, the district offices were reintroduced and the city district offices and also the district offices of the higher regional unit were abolished.
See also
- Flags and coats of arms of the regions of Slovakia
- List of traditional regions of Slovakia
- List of cities and towns in Slovakia
- Political system of Slovakia
- ISO 3166-2: SK
- NUTS: SK
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b In Germany and Austria are also historical reasons, the expressions county and district respectively occupied contrary, in Germany's government district to the district located in Austria, the historic district of the monarchy period over the political district .
- ↑ Štátna správa už v štruktúre 72 okresných úradov (Slovak) , Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, accessed on October 10, 2013