science

Raion

Raion is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Raion rather than just read about it. In short: A raion (Russian: район), also spelt rayon, is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city.

Key takeaways

Raion belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Raion to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Raion from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A raion (Russian: район), also spelt rayon, is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French rayon (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is commonly translated as 'district' in English. A raion is a standardized administrative entity across most of the former Soviet Union and is usually a subdivision two steps below the national level, such as a subdivision of an oblast. However, in smaller USSR republics, it could be the primary level of administrative division. After the fall of the Soviet Union, some of the republics kept the raion (e.g. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) while others dropped it (e.g. Georgia, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan). In Bulgaria, it refers to an internal administrative subdivision of a city not related to the administrative division of the country as a whole, or, in the case of Sofia municipality a subdivision of that municipality.

Etymology The word raion is derived from French rayon, which is itself derived from Frankish *hrātu 'honeycomb'. It is used in many languages spanning Central Europe to Central Asia and Siberia. For instance, Azerbaijani: rayon; Belarusian: раён, romanized: rajon; Bulgarian: район, romanized: rajon; Georgian: რაიონი, romanized: raioni; German: Rayon; Ingrian: raijona; Latvian: rajons; Lithuanian: rajonas; Polish: rejon; Romanian: raion; Russian: район, romanized: raion; Turkish: reyon; Ukrainian: район, romanized: rajon; Uyghur: رايون, romanized: rayon; and Yakut: оройуон, romanized: oroyuon.

List of countries with raion subdivisions Fourteen countries have or had entities that were named "raion" or the local version of it.

History

Raions in the Soviet Union In the Soviet Union, raions were administrative divisions created in the 1920s to reduce the number of territorial divisions inherited from the Russian Empire and to simplify their bureaucracies. The process of conversion to the system of raions was called raionirovanie ("regionalization"). It was started in 1923 in the Urals, North Caucasus, and Siberia as a part of the Soviet administrative reform and continued through 1929, by which time the majority of the country's territory was divided into raions instead of the old volosts and uyezds. The concept of raionirovanie was met with resistance in some republics, especially in Ukraine, where local leaders objected to the concept of raions as being too centralized in nature and ignoring the local customs. This point of view was backed by the Soviet Russian People's Commissariat of Nationalities. Nevertheless, eventually all of the territory of the Soviet Union was regionalized. Soviet raions had self-governance in the form of an elected district council (raysovet) and were headed by the local head of administration, who was either elected or appointed.

Raions outside the Soviet Union

Following the model of the Soviet Union, raions were introduced in Bulgaria and Romania. In China the term is used in Uyghur in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In February 1968 the 177 raions of Romania were reconstituted into 39 counties (Romanian: județe) which was the administrative term used before the communist era. This was done partly for nationalist reasons and partly to centralize the power of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Raions after the dissolution of the Soviet Union After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, raions as administrative units continue to be used in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. They are also used in breakaway regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria.

In Georgia they exist as districts in Tbilisi.

Modern raions

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is divided into seven districts.

Azerbaijan

Belarus

In Belarus, raions (Belarusian: раён, rajon) are administrative units subordinated to oblasts. See also: Category:Districts of Belarus.

Bulgaria In Bulgaria, raions are subdivisions of three biggest cities: Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Sofia is subdivided to 24 raions (Sofia districts), Plovdiv - 6, Varna - 5 raions.

Moldova Administrative divisions of Moldova

South Ossetia

Transnistria

Russia

Ukraine

In Ukraine, there are a total of 136 raions which are the administrative divisions of oblasts (provinces) and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Major cities as well as the two national cities with special status (Kyiv and Sevastopol) are also subdivided into raions (constituting a total of 118 nationwide).

Notes

References

6 мая 2001 г. «Конституция Республики Тыва», в ред. Конституционного закона №1419 ВХ-2 от 10 июля 2009 г «О внесении изменений в статью 113 Конституции Республики Тыва». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Тувинская правда", 15 мая 2001 г. (May 6, 2001 Constitution of the Tyva Republic, as amended by the Constitutional Law #1419 VKh-2 of July 10, 2009 On Amending Article 113 of the Constitution of the Tyva Republic. Effective as of the official publication date.).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Raion

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Raion claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Raion before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Raion ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Raion

In research: Raion appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Raion in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Raion is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Administrative divisions of Georgia (country), Administrative divisions of Ukraine, Administrative divisions of regions of Ukraine, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Raion outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Raion in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Raion means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Raion out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Raion in simple terms?

A raion (Russian: район), also spelt rayon, is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city.

Why does Raion matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Raion?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Raion.