- Districts of Austria
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Map of Austria subdivided in the 84 districts. In red the 15 Statutarstädte
Austria is divided into 84 political districts (Politische Bezirke), and 15 Statutarstädte which form their own districts.
Function
The Austrian Bezirk is roughly equivalent to the Landkreis in Germany and County in the United States. The administrative office of a district, the Bezirkshauptmannschaft is headed by the Bezirkshauptmann. The districts are in charge of the administration of all matters of federal and state administrative law and subject to orders from the higher instances, usually the Landeshauptmann (governor) in matters of federal law and the Landesregierung (state government) in state law. Thus, the district is the basic unit of general administration in Austria.
Officials on the district level are not elected but appointed by the state government.
There are also independent cities in Austria. They are called Statutarstadt in Austrian administrative law. These cities are not part of any district and the city administration covers all matters usually a district administration would do.
Usually, an independent city is home to a district administration which is responsible for the surrounding area of the respective city. For example, Innsbruck is an independent city surrounded by the district "Innsbruck-Land" of which the district administration is situated in the city of Innsbruck.
Vienna, which is both a state and a Statutarstadt, is further subdivided into districts, which are divisions used for local administration by the city government.
For more information on Austrian administration, see States of Austria.
List of political districts
List of independent cities
City Vehicle registration code State Eisenstadt E[2] Burgenland Graz G Styria Innsbruck I Tirol Klagenfurt K Carinthia Krems an der Donau KS Lower Austria Leoben LE Styria Linz L Upper Austria Rust E[2] Burgenland Salzburg S Salzburg Sankt Pölten P Lower Austria Schwechat SW Lower Austria Steyr SR Upper Austria Villach VI Carinthia Waidhofen an der Ybbs WY Lower Austria Wels WE Upper Austria Wien (Vienna) W Wien (Vienna) Wiener Neustadt WN Lower Austria - ^ Vehicle registration plates issued in the district of Liezen usually show the LI-code. However, in the areas around Bad Aussee and Gröbming which are nevertheless part of Liezen district registration plates showing the BA- or GB-code respectively are issued.
- ^ a b The cities of Eisentadt and Rust share the E-code on their vehicle registration plates.
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1 Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border. 4 Partially recognised.Table of administrative country subdivisions by country Categories:- Districts of Austria
- Subdivisions of Austria
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- Country subdivisions of Europe
- Second-level administrative country subdivisions
- Austria-related lists
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