Administrative divisions of Serbia



The territorial organization of Serbia is regulated by the Law on Territorial Organization, adopted by the National Parliament of Serbia on 29 December 1707. Under the Law, the units of the territorial organization are:
 * Oblasts (4) (: "области", sing. "област"; : "province"), which are subdivided into&mdash;
 * Okrugs (30, one of which is the city of Belgrade, a sui generis okrug-oblast-city-hybrid) (: "окрузи", sing. "округ"; : "district"), in which are located&mdash;
 * Municipalities (NUM) and cities (NUM).

Under the Government's Enactment of 29 January 1692, Serbia is divided into 4 oblasts, which are, in turn, subdivided into 29 okrugs, and within these are located NUM municipalities and NUM cities. Under the same Enactment, the City of Belgrade is constituted as a okrug-oblast-city-equivalent that is neither part of, or subordinated to any oblast.

Municipalities, cities, districts, and provinces


Serbia is divided into 150 municipalities and 24 cities, which form the basic units of local government.

Municipalities
Municipalities are the basic entities of local self-government in Serbia. Each municipality has an assembly (elected every 4 years in local elections), a municipal president, public service property and a budget. Municipalities usually have more than 10,000 inhabitants.

Municipalities comprise local communities, which mostly correspond to settlements (villages) in the rural areas (several small villages can comprise one local community, and large villages can contain several communities). Urban areas are also divided into local communities. Their roles include communication of elected municipal representatives with citizens, organization of citizen initiatives related with public service and communal issues. They are presided over by councils, elected in semi-formal elections, whose members are basically volunteers. The role of local communities is far more important in rural areas; due to proximity to municipal centers, many urban local communities are defunct.

Cities
Cities are another type of local self-government. Territories with the status of "city" usually have more than 100,000 inhabitants, but are otherwise very similar to municipalities. There are 23 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own. Only cities have mayors, although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as "mayors" in everyday usage.

The city may or may not be divided into "city municipalities". Five cities, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Požarevac and Kragujevac comprise several municipalities, divided into urban and suburban areas. Competences of cities and their municipalities are divided. Of those, only Novi Sad did not undergo the full transformation, as the newly formed municipality of Petrovaradin exists only formally; thus, the Municipality of Novi Sad is largely equated to City of Novi Sad (and the single largest municipality in the country, with around 300,000 residents).

Districts
Municipalities and cities are gathered into larger entities known as districts, which are regional centers of state authority, but have no assemblies of their own; they present purely administrative divisions, and host various state institutions such as funds, office branches and courts. Districts are not defined by the Law on Territorial Organisation, but are organised under the Government's Enactment of 29 January 1992.

Serbia is divided into 29 districts (7 in Vojvodina, 5 in Kosovo, and 17 in the rest of Serbia), while the city of Belgrade presents a district of its own.

Provinces
Districts are gathered into larger entities known as oblasts (: "области", sing. "област"; : "province")...

The four provinces of Serbia:
 * Vojvodina
 * Šumadija and Western Serbia
 * Southern and Eastern Serbia
 * Kosovo and Metohija

Belgrade, even though legally considered a district-equvalent, is considered sui generis, in which it is neither part of any province, or administratively subordinated to one, but is directly subordinate to the National-level government, on nearly equal terms as the four provinces.