Municipalities of Portugal

Municipalities Of Portugal

In Portugal, municipality (município) or concelho is the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country.

Portugal has an entirely separate system of cities and towns. Cities and towns are located in municipalities but often do not have the same boundaries, even they are continuously built up. There are around twice as many cities and towns as there are municipalities.

As a general rule, each municipality is further subdivided into parishes (freguesias); the municipalities in the north of the country usually have a higher number of parishes. Five municipalities are composed of only one parish, and Barcelos is the municipality with most parishes, with 89. Corvo is, by law, the only municipality with no parishes.