| List Of German Districts |
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Information AboutList Of German Districts |
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There are 439 German districts (''Kreise''), administrative units in Germany . The District s are at an intermediate level of administration between the ''Länder'' ( German States ) and the local / municipal levels ('' Gemeinden ''). Not to be confused with the larger Regierungsbezirk . Types of district The majority of the districts are Rural Districts , ''Landkreise'', of which there are 323. Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and in some ''Länder'' smaller towns) do not usually belong to a district but take over district responsibilities themselves - similar to the concept of Independent Cities These are known as Urban Districts (''Kreisfreie Städte'' / ''Stadtkreise'') - cities which constitute a district in their own right, and there are currently ( 2004 ) 116 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 439. In North Rhine-Westphalia , there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Iserlohn, Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Witten and Neuss . Responsibilities The districts are responsible for the following:
All these tasks are carried out by local (municipal) authorities operating together. Urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. District parliament The district parliament, the ''Kreistag'', is the legislative body of the district and is responsible for local self-administration. The parliament is elected directly every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years, and in Schleswig-Holstein , where it is every four years. District administration The executive authority is an officer known as ''Landrat'' or ''Landrätin'', who administers the district. In northern Germany, this is also the name of the district administration, in southern Germany it is known as ''Kreisverwaltung''. See also |