Budapest, the capital of Hungary has 23 districts (Hungarian: kerület), each with its own municipal government.

The number of districts in Budapest

Budapest was organized into 10 districts (numbered from I to X) in 1873 after the unification of the cities of Pest, Buda and Óbuda. The districts at that time:

• Buda: I, II
• Óbuda: III
• Pest: IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X

In the 1930s, 4 new districts were organized, numbered from XI to XIV. On 1 January 1950, 7 neighboring towns and 16 villages were annexed to Budapest by creating 9 new districts, so the number of its districts increased to 22. District IV was annexed to District V and the number IV was given to the northernmost newly merged town, Újpest. Former district borders were also partly modified but the old numbering system is still clear on the map. In 1994, Soroksár left District XX, became the newest district and received the number XXIII.

Districts

Listed below are the ordinal numbers of the 23 districts of Budapest, their official names (if there is one), and the names of the neighbourhoods within the districts. Each district can be associated with one or more neighbourhoods named after former towns within Budapest.

• Buda is the hilly part on the west bank of the Danube (red cells in the table below), Districts I, II, III, XI, XII, XXII
• Pest is the flat part on the east bank of the Danube (green cells in the table below). Districts IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXIII
• Csepel is a big island in the south which barely belongs to Budapest. This part of the island is the District XXI and is also referred as Csepel.
• Margaret Island is an island that is directly administered by the Municipality of Budapest (used to be part of District XIII) and is used as a recreational area
• There is a third island called Óbuda Island (Óbudai-sziget) which forms parts of District III and hosts the Sziget Festival since 1993.

List of districts by population, territory and population density

^[1]

Arrangement of districts

District I is a small area in central Buda (the western side), including the historic Castle. District II is in Buda again, in the northwest, and District III stretches along in the northernmost part of Buda.

To reach District IV, one must cross the Danube to find it in Pest (the eastern side), also at north. With District V, another circle begins: it is located in the absolute centre of Pest. Districts VI, VII, VIII and IX are the neighbouring areas to the east, going southwards, one after the other.

District X is another, more external circle also in Pest, while one must jump to the Buda side again to find Districts XI and XII, going northwards. No more districts remaining in Buda in this circle, we must turn our steps to Pest again to find Districts XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX (mostly external city parts), almost regularly in a semicircle, going southwards again.

District XXI is the extension of the above route over a branch of the Danube, the northern tip of a long island (Csepel-sziget) south from Budapest. District XXII is still on the same route in southwest Buda, and finally District XXIII is again in southernmost Pest, irregular only because it was part of District XX until the mid-90s.

Twin towns - sister cities (districts)

Budapest I – Várkerület^[2]

Budapest II^[3]

Budapest III – Óbuda-Békásmegyer^[4]

District IV – Újpest

• Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Berlin, Germany
• Chalcis, Greece
• Tyresö, Sweden

Budapest V – Belváros-Lipótváros^[5]

Budapest VI – Terézváros^[6]

Budapest VII – Erzsébetváros^[7]

Budapest VIII – Józsefváros^[8]

• Pescina, Italy

Budapest IX – Ferencváros^[9]

Budapest X – Kőbánya^[10]

Budapest XI – Újbuda^[11]

Budapest XII – Hegyvidék^[12]

• Arad, Romania

Budapest XIII^[13]

Budapest XIV – Zugló^[14][15]

Budapest XV^[16]

Budapest XVI^[17]

• Tây Hồ District (Hanoi), Vietnam

Budapest XVII – Rákosmente^[18]

Budapest XVIII – Pestszentlőrinc-Pestszentimre^[19]

Budapest XIX – Kispest^[20]

Budapest XX – Pesterzsébet^[21]

Budapest XXI – Csepel^[22]

Budapest XXII – Budafok-Tétény^[23]

Budapest XXIII – Soroksár^[24]