Administrative divisions of Iran

On the first level of country subdivisions of Iran are the provinces.

Each province is further subdivided into counties called shahrestan ([شهرستان shahrestān] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)), and each shahrestan is subdivided into districts called bakhsh ([بخش bakhsh] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)). There are usually a few cities ([شهر shahr] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) and rural districts ([دهستان dehestān] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) in each county. Rural districts are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county.

According to the government of Iran, as of June 2012 (Iranian calendar 1391), the figures are as follows:

English	Persian sing.	Persian pl.	number
Provinces	استان ostān	استان‌ها ostānhā	31
Counties	شهرستان shahrestān		402
Districts	بخش bakhsh		999
cities	شهر shahr		1,167
rural districts	دهستان dehestān		2,512

Alborz

Ardabil

Bushehr

Chaharmahal
and Bakhtiari

Isfahan

Fars

Gilan

Golestan

Hamadan

Hormozgan

Ilam

Kerman

Kermanshah

Khuzestan

Kohgiluyeh and
Boyer-Ahmad

Kurdistan

Lorestan

Markazi

Mazandaran

Qazvin

Qom

Razavi
Khorasan

Semnan

Sistan and
Baluchestan

Tehran

Yazd

Zanjan

North
Khorasan

South
Khorasan

West
Azerbaijan

East
Azerbaijan

Caspian Sea

Persian Gulf

Turkmenistan

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Azerbaijan

Armenia

T
u
r
k
e
y

Iraq

Kuwait

Saudi Arabia

According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the figures are as follows, as of March 2005 (end of Iranian calendar 1383):

English	Persian sing.	Persian pl.	number
Provinces	استان ostān	استان‌ها ostānhā	30
Counties	شهرستان shahrestān		324
Districts	بخش bakhsh		865
cities	شهر shahr		982
rural districts	دهستان dehestān		2378

To better understand such subdivisions, the following table may be helpful. Assume that province P is divided into two counties: A and B. County A has 3 districts: Central, X, and Y. The Central district is the district that contains City M, the capital of the county. Each district might contain one or more cities or one or more RDs (rural districts). In our example, the Central district contains City M, City N, and RD T composed of the villages V1, V2, V3, and V4, in turn; district X contains City O and RD U; and district Y has no cities and one RD V. The minimal county consists of only one city as the only district, named Central, which is most common. The county B in the following table is of such type, containing only one city Q.

Province	County	District	City / RD*	Villages
P	A	Central	City M (c)
			City N
			RD T	V1, V2, V3, V4
		X	City O
			RD U	V5, V6
		Y	RD V	V7, V8, V9
	B	Central	City Q