Administrative districts of Serbia

The administrative districts (Serbian: управни окрузи, romanized: upravni okruzi) of Serbia are deconcentrated coordination units of the central government, established under the 2005 Law on State Administration and implemented through government decrees. They are not administrative divisions, as the administrative divisions of Serbia are constitutionally defined units of self-governance or autonomy, but rather regional operational centers serving ministerial field offices (such as branches of inspection authorities). Each has a territorial remit matching a certain cluster of municipalities and cities (which are constitutionally and statutorily defined administrative divisions).

Originally instituted by a 1992 government decree, there are 29 administrative districts, with the City of Belgrade having similar status.^[1] Following the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, the districts created by the UNMIK-Administration were adopted by Kosovo. The Serbian government does not recognize these districts.

Territorially, an administrative district is merely a designation of the territorial remit of a given regional centre of state administration, through which the central government exercises its power within a hierarchical structure. In practical and organizational terms, administrative districts are often small field offices coordinating deconcentrated state functions with no independent decision-making authority. Each is headed by a government-appointed functionary-level official titled Head of the Administrative District.

The administrative districts are generally named after historical and geographical regions, though some, such as the Pčinja District and the Nišava District, are named after local rivers. Their areas and populations vary, ranging from the relatively-small Podunavlje District to the much larger Zlatibor District. The term okrug (pl. okruzi) means "circuit" and corresponds (in literal meaning) to bezirk in the German language. Prior to a 2006 decree, the administrative districts were named simply districts.