 Municipal districts are created when predominantly rural areas with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their residential buildings are on parcels of land greater than 1,850 m², apply to Alberta Municipal Affairs for municipal district status under the authority of the "Municipal Government Act".Applications for municipal district status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.Alberta's then 64 municipal districts that had a cumulative population of 451,979 and an average population of 7,062 in the 2011 Census.