Editing Raion (section)

==History==

===Raions in the Soviet Union===
In the [[Soviet Union]], raions were administrative divisions created in the 1920s to reduce the number of territorial divisions inherited from the [[Russian Empire]] and to simplify their bureaucracies.<ref name="Gale">James R. Millar.  ''Encyclopedia of Russian History''.  Macmillan Reference USA.  New York, 2004.  {{ISBN|0-02-865693-8}}</ref>  The process of conversion to the system of raions was called '''''raionirovanie''''' ("regionalization").  It was started in 1923 in the [[Urals]], [[North Caucasus]], and [[Siberia]] as a part of the Soviet administrative reform and continued through 1929, by which time the majority of the country's territory was divided into raions instead of the old [[volost]]s and [[uyezd]]s.<ref name="Gale" />

The concept of ''raionirovanie'' was met with resistance in some republics, especially in [[Ukraine]], where local leaders objected to the concept of raions as being too centralized in nature and ignoring the local customs.  This point of view was backed by the Soviet Russian [[People's Commissariat of Nationalities]].<ref name="Gale" />  Nevertheless, eventually all of the territory of the Soviet Union was regionalized.

Soviet raions had self-governance in the form of an elected [[soviet (council)|district council]] (''raysovet'') and were headed by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed.

===Raions outside the Soviet Union===
{{Further|Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of Romania}}
Following the model of the Soviet Union, raions were introduced in Bulgaria and Romania. In China the term is used in Uyghur in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In Romania they have been later replaced.

===Raions after the dissolution of the Soviet Union===
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, raions as administrative units continue to be used in [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]], [[Moldova]], [[Russia]], and [[Ukraine]].

They are also used in breakaway regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Set
! Quantity
! Comment
|-
| [[Districts of Abkhazia]] || 7 || first-level
|-
| [[Districts of Azerbaijan]] || 59 || first-level, 18 other entities at that level exist
|-
| [[Districts of Belarus]] || 118 || second-level below oblasts and Minsk City
|-
| [[Districts of Moldova]] || 32 || first-level, 5 other entities at that level exist
|-
| [[Districts of South Ossetia]] || 4 || first-level, 1 other entity at that level exists
|-
| [[Districts of Russia]] || 1731<ref group=nb>Including Crimea and Sevastopol.</ref> || second-level below federal subjects
|-
| [[Districts of Transnistria]] || 5 || first-level
|-
| [[Districts of Ukraine]] || 136 and 118 city raions || second-level, numbers as of 2020, including Sevastopol and Crimea
|}

In Georgia they exist as districts in Tbilisi.