Generally, a local administrative unit (LAU) is a low level administrative division of a country, ranked below a province, region, or state. Not all countries describe their locally governed areas this way, but it can be descriptively applied anywhere to refer to counties, municipalities, etc.
In the European Union, LAUs are basic components of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions. For each EU member country, two levels of Local Administrative Units (LAU) are defined: LAU-1 and LAU-2, which were previously called NUTS-4 and NUTS-5 respectively, until the NUTS regulation went into force in July 2003. For some countries, the LAU-1 level is not defined, and thus equivalent to the NUTS-3 level. A similar statistical system is defined for the candidate countries and members of the European Free Trade Association.
| Countries | LAU 1 | LAU 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU members | 27 | 8397 | 121601 | ||
| Austria | AT | — (same as NUTS 3: Groups of Districts) | 35 | Municipalities (Gemeinden) | 2357 |
| Belgium | BE | — (same as NUTS 3: Arrondissements; Verviers split into two) | 44 | Municipalities (Gemeenten/Communes) | 589 |
| Bulgaria | BG | Municipalities (Общини/Obshtini) | 264 | Settlements (Населени Места/Naseleni Mesta) | 5329 |
| Cyprus | CY | Districts (Eparchies) | 6 | Municipalities, communities (Dimoi, koinotites) | 613 |
| Czech Republic | CZ | Districts (Okresy) | 77 | Municipalities (Obce) | 6249 |
| Germany | DE | Collective municipalities (Verwaltungs-gemeinschaften) | 1457 | Municipalities (Gemeinden) | 12379 |
| Denmark | DK | Municipalities (Kommuner) | 99 | Parishes (Sogne) | 2148 |
| Estonia | EE | Counties (Maakond) | 15 | Municipalities (Vald, linn) | 227 |
| Spain | ES | — (same as NUTS 3: Provinces + Islands + Ceuta and Melilla) | 59 | Municipalities (Municipios) | 8111 |
| Finland | FI | Sub-regions (Seutukunnat / Ekonomiska regioner) | 77 | Municipalities (Kunnat / Kommuner) | 416 |
| France | FR | Cantons (Cantons de rattachement) | 3787 | Communes | 36683 |
| Greece | GR | Municipalities/Communities (Dimoi/Koinotites) | 1034 | Municipal districts/Community districts (Demotiko diamerisma/Koinotiko diamerisma) | 6130 |
| Hungary | HU | Statistical sub-regions (Statisztikai kistérségek) | 174 | Settlements (Települések) | 3152 |
| Ireland | IE | Counties/Cities | 34 | Electoral Districts | 3441 |
| Italy | IT | — (same as NUTS 3: Provinces) | 107 | Municipalities (Comuni) | 8101 |
| Lithuania | LT | Municipalities (Savivaldybės) | 60 | Elderships (Seniūnijos) | 518 |
| Luxembourg | LU | Cantons | 13 | Communes | 116 |
| Latvia | LV | Districts, republic cities (Rajoni, republikas pilsētas) | 33 | Cities, municipalities, parishes (Pilsētas, novadi, pagasti) | 527 |
| Malta | MT | Districts (Distretti) | 6 | Councils (Kunsilli) | 68 |
| Netherlands | NL | — (same as NUTS 3: COROP regions) | 40 | Municipalities (Gemeenten) | 443 |
| Poland | PL | Districts and city districts (Powiaty i miasta na prawach powiatu) | 379 | Municipalities (Gminy) | 2478 |
| Portugal | PT | Municipalities (Concelhos - Municípios) | 308 | Parishes (Freguesias) | 4260 |
| Romania | RO | — (same as NUTS 3: Counties (Judeţe) + Bucharest) | 42 | Communes + Municipalities + Cities (Comune + Municipii + Oraşe) | 3174 |
| Sweden | SE | — (same as NUTS 3: Counties) | 21 | Municipalities (Kommuner) | 290 |
| Slovenia | SI | Administrative units (upravne enote) | 58 | Municipalities (občine) | 211 |
| Slovakia | SK | Districts (Okresy) | 79 | Municipalities (Obce) | 2928 |
| United Kingdom | UK | Lower tier authorities (districts) or individual unitary authorities (England and Wales); Individual unitary authorities or LECs (or parts thereof) (Scotland); Districts (Northern Ireland) |
443 | Wards (or parts thereof) | 10664 |
| Candidate countries | 6 | 1067 | 41539 | ||
| Croatia | HR | — (same as NUTS 3: Counties) | 21 | Municipalities | 546 |
| Iceland | IS | Regions | 8 | Municipalities | 79 |
| Macedonia | MK | Municipalities | 84 | Settlements | 1776 |
| Montenegro | ME | Municipalities | 21 | Settlements | 1256 |
| Serbia | RS | Districts/two autonomous provinces Kosovo and Vojvodina | 29/2 | Municipalities and cities | 150 municipalities, 24 cities (plus 33 city municipalities) |
| Turkey | TR | Districts | 923 | Municipalities | 37675 |
| EFTA countries | 3 | 257 | 3163 | ||
| Liechtenstein | LI | Electoral districts | 2 | Municipalities | 11 |
| Norway | NO | Economic regions | 89 | Municipalities | 431 |
| Switzerland | CH | Districts | 166 | Municipalities | 2721 |
Famous quotes containing the words local and/or unit:
“Wags try to invent new stories to tell about the legislature, and end by telling the old one about the senator who explained his unaccustomed possession of a large roll of bills by saying that someone pushed it over the transom while he slept. The expression “It came over the transom,” to explain any unusual good fortune, is part of local folklore.”
—For the State of Montana, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)