A prefecture (from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international church structures. During the antiquity, it was the name of a type of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

district. In the 21st century, the term prefecture is used for the modern first-level subdivisions of the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Literal prefectures

Antiquity

''Prefecture'' originally referred to several distinct administrative structures in ancient Rome. In the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

and early Empire, a praefectura was a town or community lacking full civic autonomy and administered by a Roman-appointed

Praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

. These praefecturae were common in Italy before the extension of Roman citizenship and typically occupied a lower legal status than a

municipium In ancient Rome, the Latin term (: ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ('duty holders'), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges ...

or colonia. Later, during the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the ''caesares''. I ...

, Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

reorganized the Roman Empire into four major administrative divisions known as praetorian prefectures. Each was composed of several

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

s and governed by a senior official called a ''

Praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect (; ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief ai ...

''. This structure persisted into the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and influenced later forms of territorial governance.

Ecclesiastic

Catholic canon law The canon law of the Catholic Church () is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of religious laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regul ...

is strongly inspired by Roman law, it is not surprising that the Catholic Church has several offices under a prefect. That term occurs also in otherwise styled offices, such as the head of a congregation or department of the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

. Various ecclesiastical areas, too small for a

, are termed prefects.

Analogous prefectures

Brazilian equivalent of ''prefecture''

In Brazil, the prefecture ( or in Portuguese) is the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the government of each Brazilian municipality ( in Portuguese). The term also refers to the office of the mayor ( in Portuguese).

Central African Republic

The

is divided into twenty

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

Greek equivalent of ''prefecture''

From 1836 until 2011, modern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

was divided into (, singular , ) which formed the country's main administrative units. These are most commonly translated into English as "prefectures" or "counties". Each was headed by a prefect (, ), who was a ministerial appointee until ca. 1990, but was then elected by direct popular vote in a process of decentralization that saw the prefectures become local government units. Municipal elections in Greece are held every four years and voting for the election of prefects and mayors was carried out concurrently but with separate ballots. The 2010

Kallikratis plan The Kallikratis Programme () is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the country's administrative divisions following the 1997 Kapodistrias reform. ...

, which took effect on 1 January 2011, abolished the prefectures as separate administrative units, and transformed them into regional units within the country's thirteen administrative regions.

Chinese equivalents of ''prefecture''

The ancient sense

;Xian () When used in the context of

Chinese history The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

, especially China before the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, the word "prefecture" is used to translate ''xian'' (). This unit of administration is translated as "county" when used in a contemporary context, because of the increase of the number of "xian" and the decrease of their sizes over time in the Chinese history. ;Zhou () or Fu () In the context of Chinese history during or after the

, the word "prefecture" is used to translate ''zhou'' (Wade–Giles ''chou'' (), another ancient unit of administration in China, equivalent to the modern ''province''.

The modern sense

In modern-day China, the prefecture (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ) is an administrative division found in the second level of the administrative hierarchy. In addition to prefectures, this level also includes autonomous prefectures, leagues, and

prefecture-level cities A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

. The prefecture level comes under the province level, and in turn oversees the county level.

Italian ''prefettura''

In Italy a ''prefettura'' is the office of a ''

prefetto Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

'', the representative of the Government in each

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

French ''préfecture''

In France, a ''préfecture'' is the capital city of a department, and by metonymy also designates the office and residence of the prefect. As there are 101 departments in France, there are 101 prefectures. A ''préfecture de région'' is the capital city of an administrative

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. This is the city where the prefect – the appointed government representative – resides.

Japanese sense of ''prefecture''

In English, "prefecture" is used as the translation for , which are the main subdivisions of Japan. They consist of 43 prefectures (県 ''ken'') proper, two urban prefectures (府 ''fu'', Osaka and Kyoto), one "circuit" or "territory" (道 ''dō'', Hokkaido) and one "metropolis" (都 ''to'', Tokyo). Before the end of World War II, the word was also used for overseas areas 庁 (''chō'')、州 (''shū'') and 道 (''dō'', in Korea).

Korean equivalents of ''prefecture''

Until 1894 () was the lowest level administrative division in Korea and can be translated into "Petty Prefecture" in the modern sense. It was below (, ; "county") in the administrative hierarchy. () was a higher level administrative division and can be translated into "Protectorate General", "Greater Prefecture", "Metropolitan Prefecture", or "Martial Prefecture" in the modern sense. The capital, Hanyang (

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

), can sometimes be translated as "Hanseong Prefecture". In 1895, and divisions were abolished. From 1910 to 1949, the term "prefecture" was used to translate (). Since 1949 neither nor have been used, and there has been no division in either the South Korean or North Korean administrative system which translates as "prefecture".

Mongolian equivalent

Mongolian prefectures ( Aimags) were adopted during Qing dynasty's rule. Today these are usually translated as "provinces".

Moroccan ''Préfecture''

, the 75 second-level administrative subdivisions are 13 prefectures and 62

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. They are subdivisions of the 12

regions of Morocco Regions are currently the highest administrative divisions in Morocco. Since 2015, Morocco officially administers 12 regions, including one (Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab) that lies completely within the disputed territory of Western Sahara and two (L ...

. Each prefecture and province are subdivided in their turn into districts (''cercles'', sing. ''cercle''), municipalities (''communes'', sing. ''commune'') or urban municipalities (''communes urbaines'', sing. ''commune urbaine''), and ''

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

s'' in some metropolitan areas.

Romanian ''prefectură''

Swiss ''préfecture''

In Switzerland, ''préfecture'' dates back to the Helvetic Republic and were inspired by France. As of 2025, five

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

still have ''préfectures'', including Berne, Fribourg, Valais, Vaud. The ''préfecture'' is a local representative of the regional government.

Venezuelan equivalent

Traditionally, the term prefecture referred to a

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

and the prefect was the equivalent of a mayor and commissioner. After recent changes, the prefectures and prefects are analogous with the figure of Town Clerk.

References

{{Authority control * Types of administrative division