Overview
| year | number of divisions | name of divisions |
| historically (Greeks) | ? | province? |
| historically Roman Empire | Roman Libya: Creta et Cyrenaica | province |
| historically Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Libya) | Tripolitania Vilayet 1 | vilayet |
| colonised territory (1st phase) Italian North Africa, from 1912 to 1927 |
1 (Italian Libya) or 2 |
governorate or province |
| colonised territory (2nd phase) Italian North Africa from 1927 to 1934 |
2 (Italian Cyrenaica, Italian Tripolitania) also Fezzan? |
governorate or province |
| colonised territory (3rd phase) Italian Libya from 1934 to 1937 |
3 (Cyrenaica, Fezzan, Tripolitania) or 4 or 1 |
province |
| colonised territory (4th phase) Provinces of the Fourth Shore within the Italian Colonial Empire from 1937 to 1940 |
4 (Tripoli, Bengazi, Derna, Misurata) or 5 (along with Southern Military Territory) or 1 |
province |
| colonised territory (5th phase) after World War II from 1943 to 1951 |
3 (Cyrenaica and Tripolitania were British; Fezzan-Ghadames was French) | province |
| after independence in 1951-1952 (Kingdom of Libya) | 3 | muhafazat (governorate) |
| in Kingdom of Libya after 1963 and in Libyan Jamahiriya after 1969 coup d'état |
10 | baladiyat (district) |
| after 1983 | 46 | baladiyat (district) |
| after 1987-1988 | 25 | baladiyat (district) |
| after 1995 | 13 | shabiyat (district) |
| after 1998 | 26 | shabiyat (district) |
| after 2001 | 32 | shabiyat (district) |
| after 2007 | 22 | shabiyat (district) |
Libyan districts are further subdivided into Basic People's Congresses which act as townships or boroughs.
Read more about this topic: Subdivisions Of Libya