Administrative divisions of Cambodia
Cambodia is divided into 24 provinces (Khmer: ខេត្ត, khaet) and the special administrative unit Phnom Penh (Khmer: ភ្នំពេញ, Phnom Penh). Though a different administrative unit, Phnom Penh is at province level, so de facto Cambodia has 25 provinces and municipality.
Each of Cambodia's 24 provinces is divided into Districts (Khmer: ស្រុក, Srok)- as of 2010 there are 159 districts and 12 districts in Phnom Penh (Khmer: ខណ្ឌ, Khan). Each of the provinces has one capital district (changed to "City/Town", Khmer: ក្រុង, Krong), e.g. for Siem Reap it's Srok Siem Reap. The exceptions are Banteay Meanchey, Kandal, Mondulkiri, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear Province and Rattanakiri, where the province and the capital district does not match together.
District (ស្រុក, srok) of a province is divided into "Communes" (Khmer: ឃុំ, Khum). "Commune" (Khmer: ឃុំ, Khum) is further divided into "Villages" (Khmer: ភូមិ, Phum).
In Phnom Penh the districts are called Khan (Khmer: ខណ្ឌ), and their subdivisions Sangkat (Khmer: សង្កាត់) which are smaller in the other provinces. Sangkat are further subdivided into Phum (Khmer: ភូមិ), which are usually translated as villages, though they do not necessarily cover one single settlement.
Local administration
In addition to these subdivisions, there are also cities and towns, which take over some of the responsibilities of the districts and communes on the area covered by the municipality. These all have an elected board and an elected mayor.
There are three different levels of municipalities (Khmer: ក្រុង):
- krong (city): More than 50,000 citizens
- krong (town): More than 10,000 citizens - or a provincial capital
In addition to the population numbers, the municipalities need to have enough tax revenues for the administration to be able to execute the offices of administrations.
Towns and cities are into sangkat (quarters), which are equivalent to the villages (phum) of rural areas.
For areas which do not reach the mandatory conditions, they exist another lower level of local administration. These usually cover a complete subdistrict (Khum), but may also cover more than one subdistrict or share a subdistrict with a municipality.
Informal subdivisions
Kandal Province is informally included as part of Phnom Penh, as the urban sprawl of the capital has already spread into these areas.
There are several definitions of regions in Cambodia.
Cambodia Town, Long Beach, California is sometimes jokingly referred to as "The 25th Province" of Cambodia, because of the high population of Cambodian Americans that live there.
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlas of Cambodia. |
- List of Cambodian districts and sections
- List of sangkat in Cambodia
- Provinces of Cambodia
- List of cities in Cambodia
- Communes of Cambodia