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Federal or unitary?

In a federation, regional governments (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) have powers that the national government cannot take away by ordinary law. In a unitary state, power sits at the centre, and any regional governments exist because the centre allows them. Some unitary states give their regions wide self-government.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Is power shared between a national government and states or provinces that have powers of their own?

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Federal (27)

Unitary, with strong regional self-government (5)

Unitary (161)

Read this before you quote the map

  • The line between a federation and a strongly devolved unitary state is a matter of degree, and scholars sometimes classify Spain, South Africa or India differently.
  • 'Federal' describes the constitution, not how democratic or how decentralised the country is in practice.
  • Countries not named as federal or regional are shown as unitary, which is true of the large majority of states.

Sources

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TheLawToKnow Tools. Legal World Maps: Federal or unitary?. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/legal-world-maps/federal-or-unitary.

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