A
municipiu (from
Latin municipium; English:
municipality) is a level of administrative subdivision in
Romania, roughly equivalent to
city in some
English-speaking countries. This status is given to towns that are quite large and urbanized; at present, there are 103
municipii. There is no clear benchmark regarding the status of
municipiu even though it applies to localities which have a sizeable population, usually above 15,000, and extensive urban infrastructure. Localities that do not meet these loose guidelines are classified only as towns (
orașe), or if they are not urban areas, as
communes (
comune). Cities are governed by a mayor and local council. There are no official administrative subdivisions of cities even though, unofficially, municipalities may be divided into quarters/districts (
cartiere in
Romanian). The exception to this is
Bucharest, which has a status similar to that of a county, and is officially subdivided into six administrative
sectors.