Subdivisions of Egypt

Egypt is administratively divided into governorates, regions, districts, and villages.

Governorates

Egypt is divided for administrative purposes into 27 governorates. Egyptian governorates are the top tier of the country's five-tier jurisdiction hierarchy. A governorate is administered by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Egypt and serves at the president's discretion. Most governorates have a population density of more than one thousand per km², while the three largest have a population density of less than two per km².

City

Each governorate contains at least one city.

Regions

The region or markaz consists of a capital city, other cities if they exist, and villages. Today, there are 167 markazes. The Prime Minister of Egypt appoints the chiefs of markazes.

District

The district is the smallest local unit in urban communities. However, districts differ from one governorate to another in terms of size, population and political and economic circumstances. In addition to this, districts used to be further divided into subdistrict neighborhoods called sheyakha, which were considered of a better size for efficient delivery of certain services, e.g., vaccination campaigns.

Village

The village is the smallest local unit in rural communities. However, villages differ from each other in terms of the legal status. The chiefs of villages are appointed by the respective governors.

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