The districts of Slovakia are administrative units known as okres in the Slovak language. It is a second-tier territorial administrative unit, below a Region in standing, and superior to a municipality. Each district contains at least several municipalities.
The cities of Bratislava and Košice are the only cities in Slovakia divided into internal urban districts, with five in Bratislava, and four in Košice. These urban districts are then further divided into smaller boroughs (which serve a function analogous to municipalities in typical districts).
All other districts are larger in size and also include rural areas, and rural as well as urban municipalities. Each of these more typical districts has an urban centre serving as the seat of the district, usually the largest town (or the only town) of a given district. Rural municipalities are not legally allowed to become district seats.
Further information:
OkresSeveral districts form a "Region" (Slovak "kraj"). One district, on the other hand, consists of several "municipalities" (Slovak "obec"), which in turn consist of "cadastral areas" (Slovak "katastrálne územie").
Districts have been units of state administration in Slovakia since its creation with a few interruptions, e. g. except for the period from 2004 to late 2013. Today, each district is administered by a "district office" (okresný úrad). Since late 2013, there have been also some special district offices being responsible (regarding some selected issues) not for the territory of a district, but for the territory of a Region (kraj) - they are called "district office at the seat of a Region" (okresný úrad v sídle kraja).
In the period from 2004 to late 2013, the district offices were abolished and replaced by "circuit offices" (obvodný úrad), which were usually responsible for several districts (except for the Nové Zámky District, which was one district with two circuit offices).
Slovakia has currently 79 districts, the capital of Bratislava being divided into 5 districts and the city of Košice into 4 districts. The districts are named after their administrative seats, colloquially known as "district towns". The district town is commonly the largest town in the district, although exceptions exist, such as Ilava District where the district town Ilava is far overshadowed by the much larger Dubnica nad Váhom, or Košice-okolie District, the seat of which (Košice) is not part of the district at all, instead being subdivided into four of its own districts.
