Kosovo Districts

Kosovo is one of the smallest countries in Europe, a ring of mountains around two high plains, so its seven districts are slices of something you could cross in an afternoon. They are the tier above the municipalities, and the right first step before the thirty-eight inside them.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The west, the centre and north, and the south-east
In the game: 7 districts

Start

What you are looking at

The seven districts (rajone), the regions that Kosovo's statistics agency and its courts use. They are not a tier of government, which is why a lot of maps leave them off, but they are how the country is described: Pristina in the middle, Mitrovica to the north, Peja, Gjakova and Prizren down the west, and Ferizaj and Gjilan in the south-east.

The groups are not official. Kosovo does not group its districts, so they follow the map: the west, the centre and north, and the south-east. They are a way to take the map a piece at a time.

How to place one

Start with the capital. Pristina sits in the middle of the map and touches almost everything else.
Take the north as one block. Mitrovica fills the top of the country, up to the Serbian border.
Run down the west. Peja, Gjakova and Prizren follow the Albanian and Montenegrin border from north to south.
Finish in the south-east. Ferizaj sits on the North Macedonian border and Gjilan on the eastern edge.

Every district, by group

West3 districts: Gjakova, Peja, Prizren
Centre and north2 districts: Mitrovica, Pristina
South-east2 districts: Ferizaj, Gjilan

Worked examples

Pristina

The capital

Pristina is the centre of the map and the district everything else is measured from. It holds the capital and a large share of the country's people, and borders four of the other six districts.

Prizren

The south-west corner

Prizren is the district in the far south-west, below Gjakova, running down to the borders with Albania and North Macedonia. It is the one that is most often placed too far north.

Frequently asked questions

How many districts does Kosovo have?

Seven: Pristina, Mitrovica, Peja, Gjakova, Prizren, Ferizaj and Gjilan. They are statistical and judicial regions rather than a level of government.

Are the districts the same as the municipalities?

No. The 38 municipalities are the tier below, and each belongs to exactly one district. They are the local government that people deal with day to day.

How are Kosovo's borders drawn here?

As the country's own borders, the way most of the world draws them. This map draws Kosovo as a country in its own right, as the rest of the site does.

The tier below this one is Kosovo Municipalities. For a neighbour at a similar scale, see Montenegro Municipalities.