Since the territorial reform of 2009 in accordance with the "Law on Administrative Territories and Populated Areas" Latvia has three types of administrative territories: 1) regions, 2) cities, and 3) municipalities.
When creating or eliminating a municipality, and modifying the borders thereof, accordingly to the above mentioned law the following provisions shall be observed: 1) the territory of a municipality is geographically united and has rural territories and populated areas therein; 2) a municipality self-government shall ensure the fulfilment of the functions prescribed by Law; 3) there shall be at least 4000 permanent residents in the territory of a municipality; 4) there shall be a village, or a town, in the territory of a municipality, in which there are more than 2000 permanent residents; 5) the distance from any populated area in a municipality to the administrative centre of the municipality shall not exceed 50 kilometres, and the road infrastructure shall be suitable for accessing the administrative centre of the municipality; and, 6) optimum establishment of the territory of the municipality has been ensured, taking into account the interests of the neighbouring self-governments and historical links.
By adopting this reform, changes occurred not only in Latvian terminology, but also in terminology of other languages. Please, see all 109 equivalents in English below:
