Districts of Portugal

District
Category	1st-level administrative division
Location	Portugal
Created	1835
Number	18
Populations	127,018–2,135,992
Areas	2,255–10,225 km²
Government	Appointed administration
Subdivisions	Municipality Parish

The Districts of Portugal are the most important first-level administrative subdivisions of mainland Portugal. Currently, mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts. The Portuguese autonomous regions of Açores and Madeira are no longer divided into districts.

As an administrative division, each district served mainly as the area of jurisdiction of a civil governor, who acted as the local delegate of the Central Government of Portugal.

The Portuguese Constitution of 1976 specifies that Portugal has only, as first level divisions, the autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira) and the administrative regions (to be created in mainland Portugal). According to the Constitution, the districts shall be disestablished in the territories where an autonomous or administrative region has been created.

So, the districts were abolished in Azores and Madeira when these autonomous regions were created, in 1976. In 1998, a proposal was submitted to referendum to create eight administrative regions in mainland Portugal, and, therefore, to extinguish the districts. This proposal was rejected in the ballot and so the districts continued to exist in mainland Portugal. It is worth noting that, despite their abolition in the autonomous regions, the areas of the three former districts of Azores are still used as areas of jurisdiction of some Government and non-government entities, like the district finance directorates (Tax Authority regional offices) or the district football championships.

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