What is Districts of Germany?
{{GovGermany}} '''German districts''' ({{lang-de|Kreise}}) are administrative units used in [[Germany]] for [[local government]]. The [[district]]s are in between the {{lang|de|Länder}} ([[States of Germany|German states]]) and the local / municipal levels ({{lang|de|[[States of Germany#Further subdivisions|Gemeinden]]}}). They are not to be confused with the larger {{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk]]}}. Their equivalent in other nations is the [[county]] or [[arrondissement]]. ==Types of districts== Most of the districts are [[List of German rural districts|rural districts]] ({{lang|de|Landkreise}}). There are 295 ''Landkreise''. Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) are not usually part of a district, but do the work of a district themselves. These are known as [[List of German urban districts|urban districts]] ({{lang|de|Kreisfreie Städte}} or ''Stadtkreise'') The equivalent in the United Kingdom is a unitary authority, they do the work of a town and a county. There are 107 of these Kreisfreie Städte. This makes a total of 402 districts. In [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example [[Iserlohn]], [[Recklinghausen]], [[Siegen]], [[Paderborn]], [[Bergisch Gladbach]], [[Witten]] and [[Neuss]]. These cities belong to a district, but still do so the districts jobs themselves, as though they were independent. ==Responsibilities== The districts are responsible for the following: * according to federal and regional laws: ** the building and upkeep of B roads ** other building plans which cover more than one local authority's area ** caring for national parks ** social welfare ** youth welfare ** the building and upkeep of hospitals ** the building and upkeep of state institutes of secondary education ** household waste collection and disposal ** [[License plates in Germany|car registration]] ** electing the {{lang|de|Landrat}} or {{lang|de|Landrätin}}, the chairperson of the distri