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A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French rayon (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is commonly translated as 'district' in English.

A raion is a standardized administrative entity across most of the former Soviet Union and is usually a subdivision two steps below the national level, such as a subdivision of an oblast. However, in smaller USSR republics, it could be the primary level of administrative division. After the fall of the Soviet Union, some of the republics kept the raion (e.g. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) while others dropped it (e.g. Georgia, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).

In Bulgaria, it refers to an internal administrative subdivision of a city not related to the administrative division of the country as a whole, or, in the case of Sofia municipality a subdivision of that municipality.

Etymology

The word raion is derived from French rayon, which is itself derived from Frankish *hrātu 'honeycomb'. It is used in many languages spanning Central Europe to Central Asia and Siberia. For instance, Azerbaijani: rayon; Belarusian: раён, romanized: rajon; Bulgarian: район, romanized: rajon; Georgian: რაიონი, romanized: raioni; German: Rayon; Ingrian: raijona; Latvian: rajons; Lithuanian: rajonas; Polish: rejon; Romanian: raion; Russian: район, romanized: raion; Turkish: reyon; Ukrainian: район, romanized: rajon; Uyghur: رايون, romanized: rayon; and Yakut: оройуон, romanized: oroyuon.

List of countries with raion subdivisions

Fourteen countries have or had entities that were named "raion" or the local version of it.

History

Raions in the Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, raions were administrative divisions created in the 1920s to reduce the number of territorial divisions inherited from the Russian Empire and to simplify their bureaucracies. The process of conversion to the system of raions was called raionirovanie ("regionalization"). It was started in 1923 in the Urals, North Caucasus, and Siberia as a part of the Soviet administrative reform and continued through 1929, by which time the majority of the country's territory was divided into raions instead of the old volosts and uyezds.

The concept of raionirovanie was met with resistance in some republics, especially in Ukraine, where local leaders objected to the concept of raions as being too centralized in nature and ignoring the local customs. This point of view was backed by the Soviet Russian People's Commissariat of Nationalities. Nevertheless, eventually all of the territory of the Soviet Union was regionalized.

Soviet raions had self-governance in the form of an elected district council (raysovet) and were headed by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed.

Raions outside the Soviet Union

Following the model of the Soviet Union, raions were introduced in Bulgaria and Romania. In China the term is used in Uyghur in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In Romania they have been later replaced.

Raions after the dissolution of the Soviet Union

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, raions as administrative units continue to be used in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.

They are also used in breakaway regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria.

In Georgia they exist as districts in Tbilisi.

Modern raions

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is divided into seven districts.

Azerbaijan

Belarus

In Belarus, raions (Belarusian: раён, rajon) are administrative units subordinated to oblasts. See also: Category:Districts of Belarus.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, raions are subdivisions of three biggest cities: Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Sofia is subdivided to 24 raions (Sofia districts), Plovdiv - 6, Varna - 5 raions.

Moldova

• Administrative divisions of Moldova

South Ossetia

Transnistria

Russia

Ukraine

In Ukraine, there are a total of 136 raions which are the administrative divisions of oblasts (provinces) and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Major cities of regional significance as well as the two national cities with special status (Kyiv and Sevastopol) are also subdivided into raions (constituting a total of 118 nationwide).

Notes

1. Including Crimea and Sevastopol.

References

1. Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961, repr. 1981), s.v. raion.
2. Saunders, R.A., Strukov, V. Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation. "Scarecrow Press", 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-5475-8, S. 477.
3. "Lex.bg - Закони, правилници, конституция, кодекси, държавен вестник, правилници по прилагане" [Laws, regulations, constitution, codes, state gazette, implementing regulations]. lex.bg. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
4. "Україна з новим адмінтерустроєм: парламент створив 136 нових районів та ліквідував 490 старих" [Ukraine with a new administrative system: the parliament created 136 new districts and eliminated 490 old ones]. Decentralization Reform (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2020.
   "The council reduced the number of districts in Ukraine: 136 instead of 490". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2020.
5. ^ James R. Millar. Encyclopedia of Russian History. Macmillan Reference USA. New York, 2004. ISBN 0-02-865693-8
6. According to the Instruction on Latin Transliteration of Geographical Names of the Republic of Belarus, Decree of the State Committee on Land Resources, Surveying and Cartography of the Republic of Belarus dated 23.11.2000 No. 15 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine recommended for use by the Working Group on Romanization Systems of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) — "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2009-07-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). See also: Instruction on transliteration of Belarusian geographical names with letters of Latin script; Romanization of Belarusian.

• 6 мая 2001 г. «Конституция Республики Тыва», в ред. Конституционного закона №1419 ВХ-2 от 10 июля 2009 г «О внесении изменений в статью 113 Конституции Республики Тыва». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Тувинская правда", 15 мая 2001 г. (May 6, 2001 Constitution of the Tyva Republic, as amended by the Constitutional Law #1419 VKh-2 of July 10, 2009 On Amending Article 113 of the Constitution of the Tyva Republic. Effective as of the official publication date.).

• Political divisions of Russia
• Administrative divisions of regions of Ukraine
• Subdivisions of Belarus
• Types of administrative division
• Former subdivisions of the Socialist Republic of Romania
• Russian-language designations of territorial entities
• Subdivisions of Georgia (country)
• Administrative divisions of Ukraine