Wiktionary
n. (context Europe administration legal English) In the European union, a low-level administrative division of a country, ranked below a province, region, or state.
Wikipedia
Generally, a local administrative unit (LAU) is a low level administrative division of a country, ranked below a province, region, or state. Not all countries describe their locally governed areas this way, but it can be descriptively applied anywhere to refer to counties, municipalities, etc.
In the European Union, LAUs are basic components of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions. For each EU member country, two levels of Local Administrative Units (LAU) are defined: LAU-1 and LAU-2, which were previously called NUTS-4 and NUTS-5 respectively, until the NUTS regulation went into force in July 2003. For some countries, the LAU-1 level is not defined, and thus equivalent to the NUTS-3 level. A similar statistical system is defined for the candidate countries and members of the European Free Trade Association.
colspan=2 | Countries
colspan=2 | LAU 1
colspan=2 | LAU 2
EU members
align=right | 27
Austria
AT
— (same as NUTS 3: Groups of Districts)
Belgium
BE
— (same as NUTS 3: Arrondissements; Verviers split into two)
Bulgaria
BG
Municipalities (Общини/Obshtini)
Croatia
HR
— (same as NUTS 3: Counties)
Cyprus
CY
Districts (Eparchies)
Czech Republic
CZ
Districts (Okresy)
Germany
DE
Collective municipalities (Verwaltungs-gemeinschaften)
Denmark
DK
Municipalities (Kommuner)
Estonia
EE
Counties (Maakond)
Spain
ES
— (same as NUTS 3: Provinces + Islands + Ceuta and Melilla)
Finland
FI
Sub-regions (Seutukunnat / Ekonomiska regioner)
France
FR
Cantons (Cantons de rattachement)
Greece
GR
Municipalities/Communities (Dimoi/Koinotites)
Hungary
HU
Statistical sub-regions (Statisztikai kistérségek)
Ireland
IE
Counties/Cities
Italy
IT
— (same as NUTS 3: Provinces)
Lithuania
LT
Municipalities (Savivaldybės)
Luxembourg
LU
Cantons
Latvia
LV
Districts, republic cities (Rajoni, republikas pilsētas)
Malta
MT
Districts (Distretti)
Netherlands
NL
— (same as NUTS 3: COROP regions)
Poland
PL
Districts and city districts (Powiaty i miasta na prawach powiatu)
Portugal
PT
Municipalities (Concelhos - Municípios)
Romania
RO
— (same as NUTS 3: Counties (Judeţe) + Bucharest)
Sweden
SE
— (same as NUTS 3: Counties)
Slovenia
SI
Administrative units (upravne enote)
Slovakia
SK
Districts (Okresy)
United Kingdom
UK
In England and Wales: districts or individual unitary authorities;
In Scotland: Individual unitary authorities or LECs;
In Northern Ireland: districts
Candidate countries
align=right | 5
Iceland
IS
Regions
Macedonia
MK
Municipalities
Montenegro
ME
Municipalities
Turkey
TR
Districts
EFTA countries
align=right | 3
Liechtenstein
LI
Electoral districts
Norway
NO
Economic regions
Switzerland
CH
Districts