On 1 July 2009 the 26 districts of Latvia (Latvian: rajoni, sg. rajons), introduced in 1949 by the Soviet occupation authorities to supersede counties (apriņķi, sg. apriņķis, e.g. Rīgas apriņķis), were divided into 77 cities (Latvian: pilsētas, sg. pilsēta), 10 amalgamated municipalities (Latvian: novadi, sg. novads), 24 rural territories (Latvian: lauku teritorijas, sg. lauku teritorija) and 475 parishes (Latvian: pagasti, sg. pagasts).
