Districts of the Arab Union

In the Arab Union, a district (Arabic: منطقة minṭaqah, plur. مناطق manāṭiq) is an intermediary tier of administrative division, between the republics (federated states) and baladiyāt (local government areas, each administered by a council). Each republic is divided into a number of districts (between 5 and 30), with each district encompassing multiple baladiyāt.

Unlike the tiers immediately above and below, districts simply constitute the upper administrative divisions of a republic and do not have their own complimentary level of government; rather, they are used by the governorate (government of a republic) to organise administration by region. It is also common, especially around urban areas, for several or all councils within a district to form a combined authority, which allows participating councils to delegate certain areas of responsibility to a common authority that delivers services uniformly to all baladiyāt, while retaining their status as distinct local authorities individually responsible for remaining local services (those not provided by the union or governorate, nor delegated to a combined authority).

Governorates can create, merge, alter or abolish districts at their discretion, with boundaries and number of districts thus subject to change over time. While ideally encompassing similar population sizes, district planning is influenced at least as much by natural and human geography, resulting in variation of physical extent, population and density among districts. District boundaries always conform with council boundaries without overlap, each baladiyah thus forming part of a single district. While most districts are covered more or less entirely by incorporated baladiyāt, several rural districts contain sometimes large unincorporated areas, ie. uninhabited, undeveloped land which does not come under the jurisdiction of any council, most commonly desert hinterlands, mountain peaks, floodplains and uninhabited islets.