District code

The district codes currently divide the federal territory into 400 districts and independent cities (as of 04.2024). Most of the spatial observation is available at this level. Further territorial units such as federal states and spatial planning regions can be created by aggregating the district codes (BBSR 2024).

Origin/Creator:	not applicable
Method/Structure:	The district code is made up of 106 independent cities and 294 districts (Federal Statistical Office 31.12.2022). The independent cities and districts are part of Germany's local authorities. They have both administrative and supervisory functions.
Development/implementation for Germany:	The indicators of INKAR (Indicators and Maps on Spatial and Urban Development in Germany and Europe) of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) are available to users online at http://www.inkar.de/ and can be fed into a data set via the BIBB-FDZ with a valid user contract based on the categorisation into district codes. INKAR contains regional statistical information on the following topics: Unemployment, construction and housing, employment and gainful employment, population, education, land use and environment, medical and social care, public finances, private income, private debt, spatially effective resources, settlement structure, social structure, transport and accessibility, economy. The approximately 500 indicators cover the period from 1995 to 2022 at most, depending on the indicator.

Related classifications:

Spatial planning regions

ROB 2010 spatial types

Federal states

West/East

Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques (NUTS)

Keywords

Regional authority, administrative district, independent cities, territorial unit, spatial observation, INKAR

District code

Fundamental literature: Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) (2024): Laufende Raumbeobachtung - Raumabgrenzungen. Kreise und Kreisregionen.
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