The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in north-central Australia. It is the third largest Australian federal division with an area of 1,348,094.3 square kilometres (520,502 sq mi) but the least populous with 245,929 inhabitants as at June 2019.^[1] The Northern Territory is divided administratively into 17 Local government areas (LGAs) generally known as Councils who are responsible for providing local government services.^[2]

This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2019)

As of 1 July 2008, there were two classifications of local government in the Northern Territory:

1. Municipalities (predominantly inner-city suburban areas and smaller rural towns), of which there were five; and
2. Shires or Regions (predominantly rural or outer suburban areas), of which there were eleven shire councils.

The Northern Territory was unusual as a comparatively large share of the territory's population lived in unincorporated areas. In 2006, prior to the reorganisation of local government areas in the territory, 92 percent of the land area (1,237,999 km² (477,994 sq mi) out of 1,349,130 km² (520,900 sq mi)) with 16 percent of the population (30,523 out of 192,898), was unincorporated. This anomaly is due to the territory's very low population density, just 0.16 people per km² (0.099 people per sq mi).^[3]

Most of the unincorporated areas disappeared as a result of local government reform in 2008. The area remaining unincorporated is 19,790 km² (7,640 sq mi), 1.47 percent of the total,^[4][1] and contains 3.0 percent of the population in June 2019.^[1]

By comparison, in the only other states or territories in Australia with unincorporated areas, only 0.02% of the population of New South Wales, 0.002% of Victoria's population and 0.6% of the population of South Australia, live in unincorporated areas.

This section does not cite any sources. (February 2019)

Prior to 1 July 2008, local government areas in the Northern Territory were classified as either :

• Community Government Councils of which 51 existed,
• Incorporated Associations (Commonwealth) of which three existed,
• Municipalities of which six existed and
• Special Purpose Towns of which there is only one example.

• Local government in Australia
• List of places in the Northern Territory by population