Iran's counties (''shahrestan'', fa, شهرستان, also
romanized as ''šahrestân'') are
administrative divisions
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of larger
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
(''ostan''). The word ''shahrestan'' comes from the Persian words ' ("city, town") and ' ("province, state"). "County," therefore, is a near equivalent to ''shahrestan''.
Counties are divided into one or more districts ( ). A typical district includes both cities ( ) and rural districts ( ), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county, generally in its Central District.
Each county is governed by an office known as ''farmândâri'', which coordinates different public events and agencies and is headed by a ''farmândâr'', 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'' (37), while
Qom has the fewest (3). In 2005 Iran had 324 ''shahrestans'', while in 2021 there were 467.
Guide
The total population of a province is the total of its counties.
The total population of a county is the total of its districts.
The total poulation of a district is the total of its cities and rural districts.
To better understand these subdivisions, the following table for
Sepidan County in
Fars province (as it existed in 2006) is an example showing the hierarchy of a county's divisions:
List
The counties are listed below, by province, with the capital and the county containing the capital of the provinces in bold:
See also
*
Ostan
*
Bakhsh
*
Provinces of Iran
References
* [] (
Gitashenasi Province Atlas of Iran')
{{Provinces of Iran
Iran, Counties
Iran geography-related lists