Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Cambodia have several levels. Cambodia is divided into 24 provinces (khaet; Khmer: ខេត្ត) and the special administrative unit and capital of Phnom Penh. Though a different administrative unit, Phnom Penh is at provincial level, so de facto Cambodia has 25 provinces and municipalities.
Each province is divided into districts. As of 2023[update], there are 162 districts throughout the country's provinces, including Phnom Penh. Each province has one capital district (known as either a city or town, krong; ក្រុង), e.g. for Siem Reap, it is Krong Siem Reap. The exceptions are the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Speu, Kandal, Koh Kong, Mondulkiri, Oddar Meanchey, Ratanakiri, Takéo and Tboung Khmum, where the name of the province and the capital district does not match.
A provincial district (srok, ស្រុក) is divided into communes (khum, ឃុំ). Communes are further divided into villages (phum, ភូមិ).
Phnom Penh's 14 districts are called khan (ខណ្ឌ) and their subdivisions sangkat (សង្កាត់), which are smaller in the other provinces. Sangkat are further subdivided into phum, which are usually translated as villages, though they do not necessarily cover one single settlement.
Administrative units
editOfficially, Cambodia is divided into five administrative tiers, with different types of administrative unit on each tier:
| Level | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Autonomous municipality (រាជធានី réachthéani; lit. 'capital') |
Section (ខណ្ឌ khând) |
Quarter (សង្កាត់ sângkéat) |
Village (ភូមិ phum) |
Block (ក្រុម krŏm) |
| Province (ខេត្ត khétt) |
City (ក្រុង krŏng) | ||||
| District (ស្រុក srŏk) |
Commune (ឃុំ khŭm) |
Local administration
editIn addition to these subdivisions, there are also cities and towns, which take over some of the responsibilities of the districts and communes on the area covered by the municipality. These all have an elected board and an elected mayor.
There are three different levels of municipalities (Khmer: ក្រុង):
- krong (city): More than 50,000 citizens
- krong (town): More than 10,000 citizens - or a provincial capital
In addition to the population numbers, the municipalities need to have enough tax revenues for the administration to be able to execute the offices of administrations.
Towns and cities are divided into sangkat (communes), which are equivalent to khum of rural areas.
For areas which do not reach the mandatory conditions, they exist another lower level of local administration. These usually cover a complete subdistrict (Khum), but may also cover more than one subdistrict or share a subdistrict with a municipality.
Informal subdivisions
editKandal Province is informally included as part of Phnom Penh, as the urban sprawl of the capital has already spread into these areas.
There are several definitions of regions in Cambodia.
Cambodia Town, Long Beach, California, is sometimes jokingly referred to as the "25th province" of Cambodia, because of the high population of Cambodian Americans that live there.[citation needed]