France arrondissements, which are, in turn, subdivided into 2,054 cantons. These cantons are then divided into 36,658 communes, which are municipalities with an elected municipal council. Three communes—Paris, Lyon and Marseille—are subdivided into 45 municipal arrondissements. The regions, departments and communes are all known as territorial collectivities, meaning they possess local assemblies as well as an executive. Arrondissements and cantons are merely administrative divisions. However, this was not always the case. Until 1940, the arrondissements were territorial collectivities with an elected assembly, but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and definitely abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946. In addition
Administrative divisions of Iran Administrative divisions of Iran The first level of country subdivisions of Iran are the (; "ostānhā") provinces. Each province is further subdivided into counties called shahrestan (), and each shahrestan is subdivided into districts called bakhsh (). There are usually a few cities () and rural districts () in each county. Rural districts are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county. According to the government of Iran, (Iranian calendar 1394), the figures are as follows: According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the figures are