Counties of Iran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Counties of Iran (separated by faint lines)
Iran
Emblem of Iran.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Iran

The counties of Iran, also called shahrestan (Persian: شهرستان‎‎ shahrestān), are administrative divisions of larger provinces (ostan). The word shahrestan comes from the Persian words shahr ("city, town") and stān ("province, state"). "County", therefore, is a near equivalent of shahrestan.

Iranian counties are divided into one or more bakhsh (بخش), or districts. A typical county includes both cities (شهر shahr) and rural agglomerations (دهستان dehestān), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county.

Each county is governed by an office known as farmandari, which coordinates different public events and agencies and is headed by a farmandar, the governor of the county and the highest-ranking official in the division.

Among the provinces of Iran, Fars has the highest number of shahrestans (23), while Semnan and South Khorasan have only 4 shahrestans each; Qom uniquely has one, being coextensive with its namesake county. In 2005, Iran had 324 shahrestans.

Guide[edit]

To better understand these subdivisions, the following table is useful. Assume that province P is divided into two counties: A and B. County A has 3 districts: Central, X, and Y. The Central district is the district that contains City M, the capital of the county. Each district contains one or more cities and/or one or more RAs (rural agglomerations). In our example, the Central district contains City M, City N, and RA T, which is composed of the villages V1, V2, V3, and V4; district X contains City O and RA U; and district Y has no cities and one RA V. The minimal county consists of only one city as the only district, named Central, of course. The county B in the following table is of such type, containing only one city Q.

Ostan (province) Shahrestan (county) District City / RA* Villages
P A Central City M (c)
City N
RA T V1, V2, V3, V4
X City O
RA U V5, V6
Y RA V V7, V8, V9
B Central City Q

The counties are listed below, by province:

Alborz Province[edit]

Ardabil Province[edit]

Bushehr Province[edit]

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province[edit]

East Azerbaijan Province[edit]

Isfahan Province[edit]

Fars Province[edit]

Gilan Province[edit]

Golestan Province[edit]

Hamadan Province[edit]

Hormozgan Province[edit]

Ilam Province[edit]

Kerman Province[edit]

Kermanshah Province[edit]

Khuzestan Province[edit]

Kohgeluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province[edit]

Kordestan Province[edit]

Lorestan Province[edit]

Markazi Province[edit]

Mazandaran Province[edit]

North Khorasan Province[edit]

Qazvin Province[edit]

Qom Province[edit]

Razavi Khorasan Province[edit]

Semnan Province[edit]

Sistan and Baluchestan Province[edit]

South Khorasan Province[edit]

Tehran Province[edit]

West Azerbaijan Province[edit]

Yazd Province[edit]

Zanjan Province[edit]

See also[edit]

Portal icon Iran portal

References[edit]

Articles on second-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
Designations for types of administrative territorial entities
 
Common English terms1
Area
Election
City
County
District
Municipality
Prefecture
Province
Region
Reserve
State
Territory
major groups
Township
Unit
Zone
Other English terms
Current
Historical
 
Non-English or loanwords
Current
Historical
First-level
Second / third-level
City / township-level
  • Amanah (أمانة municipality)
  • Baladiyah (بلدية municipality)
  • Ḥai (حي neighborhood / quarter)
  • Mahallah (محلة)
  • Qarya (قرية)
  • Sheyakhah (شياخة "neighborhood subdivision")
English translations given are those most commonly used.
Modern
Historical
§ signifies a defunct institution
Regional subdivisions
Local subdivisions
Setlements
  • Historical subdivisions in italics.
Current
Historical
National, Federal
Regional, Metropolitan
Urban, Rural
  • Historical subdivisions in italics.
Modern
Historical
1 Used by ten or more countries or having derived terms. Historical derivations in italics.
See also: Census division, Electoral district, Political division, and Table of administrative divisions by country
Flag of Iran
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Counties_of_Iran&oldid=666379779"