Technically, Switzerland is divided into 23 cantons, of which three are further divided into half-cantons (French, demi-cantons; German, halb-kantone). The cantons are the territorial divisions. Switzerland is also divided into 26 states. Twenty of the states are coextensive with the 20 undivided cantons, and six are coextensive with the half-cantons. The states are the administrative divisions. Most of the states are further subdivided into districts (French, district; German, Bezirk or Amtsbezirk; Italian, distretto), and then divided still further into circles (French, cercle; German, Kreis; Italian, circolo). The lowest-level administrative divisions are the communes (French, commune; German, Gemeinde; Italian, comune).

Eight states have no districts: Appenzell Inner Rhodes, Basel-Stadt, Genève, Glarus, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Uri, and Zug. I have listed each of them in the table below as if it were a single district.

There are maps showing the districts of Switzerland , and of the cantons of Lucerne , Neuchâtel , Schwyz , Valais , and Vaud . For a map of Graubünden's districts before the reorganization, click on "Regionen/Bezirke" in the index at the left of this pdf file  (and scroll down the page).

Change history:

1. 1994-01-01: Laufen district transferred from Bern canton to Basel-Landschaft canton.
2. 1999-07-01: Districts of Schaffhausen canton lost their legal standing. However, they continue to appear in publications of the Swiss Statistics Office, so I have retained them in this list.
3. 2001-01-01: Districts of Graubünden canton reorganized as a result of a plebiscite. Heinzenberg district merged with Hinterrhein; Münstertal district merged with Inn; Oberlandquart and Unterlandquart districts repartitioned to form Landquart and Prättigau/Davos (probably part of Unterlandquart was removed and attached to Oberlandquart, with the remainder of Unterlandquart becoming Landquart); Glenner and Vorderrhein districts merged to form Surselva. (Based on information received from Karem Abdalla.)
4. 2003-01-01: Sankt Gallen canton was reorganized from fourteen districts into eight Wahlkreise (constituencies or electoral districts). Gaster and See districts merged to form See-Gaster constituency; Gossau and Sankt Gallen merged to form Sankt Gallen; Oberrheintal and Unterrheintal merged to form Rheintal; Wil and Untertoggenburg merged to form Wil; Alttoggenburg, Neutoggenburg, and Obertoggenburg merged to form Toggenburg; Rorschach, Sargans, and Werdenberg changed from districts to constituencies; name of Sargans changed to Sarganserland; Eggersriet commune moved from Rorschach to Sankt Gallen; Thal commune moved from Rheintal to Rorschach; Ganterschwil and Mogelsberg communes moved from Wil to Toggenburg. The new divisions of Sankt Gallen canton are listed below; populations and areas are not available.

Other names of districts:

When the name of a district is the same as the name of a canton, or the capital of a canton, its variant names will also be the same. In many cases the variant names can be found in "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries".

1. Biel: Bienne (French)
2. Lac: See (German)
3. Glenner: Glogn (Romansh)
4. Maloja: Maloggia (Italian)
5. Münstertal: Val Monastero, Val Müstair (Italian)
6. Sierre: Siders (German)