Subdivisions of Switzerland difficulties maintaining the civil services they need to perform the duties they are required to do. In an effort to reduce expenses, many municipalities are combining together (through mergers or the creation of special-purpose districts). This restructuring is generally encouraged by the cantonal governments and the rate of these unions is increasing. "Cities" ("villes" or "Städte") are the municipalities with more than 10'000 inhabitants or smaller places which had medieval town rights. There is no specific designation for smaller communities such as "village" or "town". Some subdivisions that exist are: Subdivisions of Switzerland The Swiss Confederation comprises the 26 cantons
Cantons of Switzerland one federal public holiday (1 August); public holidays otherwise vary from canton to canton. The cantons are listed in their order of precedence given in the federal constitution. This reflects the historical order of precedence of the Eight Cantons in the 15th century, followed by the remaining cantons in the order of their historical accession to the confederacy. The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license plates. They are also used in the with the prefix "CH-" ("Confœderatio Helvetica"—Helvetian Confederation—"Helvetia" having been the ancient Roman name of the region). "CH-SZ", for example, is used for