List of administrative divisions of South America

The table below indicates the types and numbers of administrative divisions used by countries having territories in South America and their major dependent territories. It is ordered alphabetically by country name in English.

France's territory in South America is French Guiana. The Netherlands' territories in South America are Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The United Kingdom's territories in South America are the Falklands Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Table

Country	Administrative divisions
	First-level	Second-level	Third-level	Fourth-level and smaller
Argentina	23 provincias  p	376 departamentos d (m) [1]	municipalidad m	localidades
	Buenos Aires Province  p	135 partidos  d m	localidades (districts)	cities and towns
	City of Buenos Aires c d m [2]		15 comunas   [3]	48 barrios
Brazil	27 unidades federativas  : [4]
	26 estados	5,564 municípios  m
	Distrito Federal c	31 regiões administrativas   [5]
Chile	16 regiones  r	50+ provincias  p	320+ comunas  m
Colombia	32 departamentos   Bogotá c	1100+ municipios m	Comunas o Localidades  2000+ corregimientos	Barrios  Veredas
Ecuador	24 provincias  p	210+ cantones	1000+ parròquias
France	27 régions, including: - 5 régions d'outre-mer French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion - 1 sui generis collectivité territoriale   [6] r	101 départements  p	342 arrondissements d	36781 communes m
	1 [state private property under the direct authority of the French government]: Clipperton Island
	5 collectivités d'outre-mer [7]
	French Polynesia [8]	5 subdivisions administratives	40+ communes
	Saint-Barthélemy
	Saint-Martin
	Saint-Pierre and Miquelon	2 communes
	Wallis and Futuna	3 royaumes coutumiers  [9]	3 [districts] d
	1 collectivité sui generis
	New Caledonia	3 provinces	30+ communes
	1 territoire d'outre-mer [10]
	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	4 [districts] d
	For French Southern and Antarctic Lands, see France above.
Guyana	10 regions	27 neighborhood councils
Netherlands, the Kingdom of	1 [country within the Kingdom that conducts its affairs]: Netherlands
	12 provincies  p	443 gemeenten  m	(27 deelgemeenten)
	3 bijzondere gemeenten Bonaire Sint Eustatius Saba
	3 [autonomous countries within the Kingdom]: [2]
	Aruba	15 cities
	Curaçao
	Sint Maarten
Paraguay	17 departamentos   Asunción c	230+ distritos   [11] d	compañías municipios
Peru	25 regiones  r	190+ provincias  p	1800+ distritos   [12] d	84000+ centros poblados → 1800+ centros poblados menores (as government entity) 80000+ [centros poblados dispersos] (only as censal unity)
Suriname	10 districten  d	60+ ressorten   [13]
Trinidad and Tobago	9 regions Tobago (governed by Tobago House of Assembly) 3 boroughs 2 cities
United Kingdom	(1 constituent country with no devolution): England
	9 regions i	81 counties (6 metropolitan and 75 non-metropolitan)	36 metropolitan boroughs 280+ non-metropolitan districts (Non-metropolitan districts include 46 unitary authorities)	parishes [14]
		Greater London c	32 London boroughs City of London
	(3 constituent countries with devolution):
	Northern Ireland	(6 counties) 26 districts
	Scotland	32 council areas		communities
	Wales	10 county boroughs 9 counties 3 cities		communities
	3 crown dependencies:
	Guernsey [15]	10 parishes 3 dependencies: Alderney, Herm and Sark
	Jersey [15]	12 parishes	vingtaines, cueillettes
	Isle of Man	6 sheadings	17 parishes
	12 overseas territories:
	Anguilla	14 districts
	Bermuda	9 parishes 2 municipalities
	British Indian Ocean Territory
	British Virgin Islands	5 districts
	Cayman Islands	7 districts
	Falkland Islands
	Gibraltar
	Montserrat	3 parishes
	Pitcairn Islands
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	3 parts of the territory: Saint Helena Ascension Island Tristan da Cunha	Saint Helena has 8 districts
	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
	Turks and Caicos Islands	6 districts
	2 sovereign base areas: Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Uruguay	19 departamentos  m	89 municipios [16]
Venezuela	23 estados	municipios  m	parròquias
	dependencias federales   [17] Caracas c

 

^{[2] [3]}

^a     pseudo-municipalities (administration is appointed)

^c     capital; see also Capitals serving as administrative divisions.

^d     districts.

ⁱ     informals.

^m    municipalities.

^p     provinces.

^r     regions.

1. In La Rioja, Mendoza and San Juan Provinces
2. Autonomous area or areas; see List of autonomous areas by country.
3. communes.
4. Federative units.
5. Administrative regions.
6. Including 5 overseas regions and Corsica as a collectivité territoriale (territorial collectivity).
7. a collectivité d'outre-mer (overseas collectivity).
8. also known as a pays d'outre-mer (overseas country).
9. kingdoms.
10. a territoire d'outre-mer (overseas territory).
11. or ?partidos.
12. or partidos.
13. ?"resorts".
14. not all of England is parished - see unparished area.
15. a bailiwick.
16. municipalities
17. federal dependencies.

Notes

Numbers of divisions

To simplify maintaining the table, numbers of divisions are only specified where a country has around thirty or fewer instances; for example, as of 2010, the twelve qarqe (counties) of Albania. For numbers greater than thirty, the number rounded down to the nearest ten (or, in the case of thousands, the nearest hundred) is given, suffixed by a plus sign "+"; for example, the "300+" komuna (communes) of Albania. More precise figures should be found in the articles linked by the table.

Terms in italics

Terms in italics are terms in languages other than English. They should be in plural form, followed by a footnote or footnotes indicating the generally accepted English equivalent or translation. Known alternative spellings are given in brackets following a term.

Terms in brackets

Entries in standard brackets either indicate that the term used is informal or that its use is yet to be confirmed. An English term in square brackets indicates that the local name for the term is not yet known or confirmed; when confirmed, it is replaced by the local name in italics.

Footnote letters ( ^cdmpr )

These indicate, respectively, five common types of administrative division in English: capitals; districts; municipalities; provinces; and regions. Other English terms appear among the numbered footnotes.

Administrative divisions with ISO 3166-1

Administrative divisions with ISO 3166-1 are cited for statistics matters even when they do not have a special status (for example, the overseas regions of France).

Antarctic claims

Administrative divisions that are entirely Antarctic claims suspended under the Antarctic Treaty are not listed.

Autonomous areas

Not all the autonomous areas are part of the formal hierarchy of the administrative division system of a country (for example, the autonomous region of Zanzibar comprises 5 regions of Tanzania, the first tier on administrative divisions on that country). For more details, see List of autonomous areas by country.

Dependent territories

Dependent territories are listed with their sovereign country. For more details, see List of dependent territories.

See also

• Country subdivision
• ISO 3166-2, codes for country subdivisions
• Associated state
• Asymmetric federation
• Condominium, joint sovereignty over an area shared by two or more states.
• Dependent territory
• Federacy
• Federation
• Federated state
• List of terms for country subdivisions
• List of capitals serving as administrative divisions by country
• List of autonomous areas by country
• List of sovereign states
• List of the most populous country subdivisions
• Lists of political and geographic subdivisions by total area, comparing continents, countries, and first-level administrative country subdivisions.
• List of political and geographic subdivisions by total area (all)
• List of FIPS region codes in FIPS 10-4, withdrawn from the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) in 2008
• Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), which covers the subdivisions of the members of the European Union