section_path: Politics/Administrative divisions
section_name: Administrative divisions
paragraph_text: Administrative divisions
  
  Administratively, Portugal is divided into 308 municipalities (municípios or concelhos), which after a reform in 2013 are subdivided into 3,092 civil parishes (Portuguese: freguesia). Operationally, the municipality and civil parish, along with the national government, are the only legally local administrative units identified by the government of Portugal (for example, cities, towns or villages have no standing in law, although may be used as catchment for the defining services). Continental Portugal is agglomerated into 18 districts, while the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are governed as autonomous regions; the largest units, established since 1976, are either mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions of Portugal (Azores and Madeira).
  
  The 18 districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu – each district takes the name of the district capital.
  
  Within the European Union NUTS system, Portugal is divided into nine regions: the Azores, Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Lisboa, Madeira, Norte, Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Península de Setúbal, and with the exception of the Azores and Madeira, NUTS areas are subdivided into 28 subregions. Population estimates from 2024.