Districts of Turkmenistan

An etrap, often translated as "district," is the second-level administrative division of Turkmenistan. In terms of hierarchy, an etrap is situated below a welaýat. An etrap may include several cities, towns and rural councils which include villages. An etrap is headed by an häkim ; they are appointed by the President of Turkmenistan.
Some districts may not fit in the hierarchy expressed before, those are the following ones:

Aşgabat, which is the only city to lawfully act as a province, is divided into four etraplar.
7 cities act lawfully as districts of their own. Those are the provinces' capital cities, Türkmenbaşy and Baýramaly.
* Among those cities, Arkadag is the only one to be divided into two etraplar in the same way Aşgabat does.

Regarding cities "with district status", by Turkmen law, "...such cities must have population over 30,000 and be the administrative center of a province." Although the law officially limits the possible number of such cities to five, other cities are periodically accorded the status of a district. As of November 9, 2022, 7 cities in Turkmenistan own the status of district. Unlike other cities, they are headed by an häkim rather than a geňeş chaired by an arçyn and have their own budget.

List of districts

As of September 19, 2025, there are 58 districts in Turkmenistan. Among them, 7 are boroughs and 7 are cities with a district status. Here is a list of the districts of Turkmenistan arranged by administrative divisions and alphabetical order. Cities with a district status are highlighted in bold.

Name	Population	Area	Density	Number of towns, cities and rural councils	Number of villages	Capital	Administrative division
Ak bugdaý	144,119	22,370	6.443/km²	17	77	Änew	Ahal province
Altyn asyr	39,569	6,058	6.532/km²	7	13	Altyn asyr	Ahal province
Arkadag	567	47.53	11.93/km²	2	0	Arkadag	Ahal province
Babadaýhan	97,312	14,400	6.758/km²	8	12	Babadaýhan	Ahal province
Bäherden	126,409	16,690	7.574/km²	15	27	Bäherden	Ahal province
Gökdepe	161,819	16,010	10.11/km²	16	45	Gökdepe	Ahal province
Kaka	83,708	7,541	11.10/km²	10	20	Kaka	Ahal province
Sarahs	80,643	5,696	14.16/km²	11	20	Sarahs	Ahal province
Tejen	152,699	7,558	20.20/km²	17	30	Tejen	Ahal province
Gorjaw	0			0	0		Arkadag
Kärizek	567			1	0		Arkadag
Bagtyýarlyk	309,619	271.6	1,140/km²	0	0		Aşgabat
Berkararlyk	266,425	70.92	3,757/km²	0	0		Aşgabat
Büzmeýin	175,179	449.1	390.1/km²	0	0		Aşgabat
Köpetdag	278,840	187.7	1,486/km²	0	0		Aşgabat
Balkanabat	188,429	11,290	16.69/km	6	5	Balkanabat	Balkan province
Bereket	39,282	22,110	1.777/km²	5	22	Bereket	Balkan province
Esenguly	45,436	9,801	4.636/km²	8	13	Esenguly	Balkan province
Etrek	23,747	10,680	2.224/km²	5	6	Etrek	Balkan province
Gyzylarbat	72,473	9,852	7.356/km²	9	25	Gyzylarbat	Balkan province
Magtymguly	34,664	4,136	8.381/km²	8	23	Magtymguly	Balkan province
Türkmenbaşy	91 745	167.4	548.1/km²	1	0	Türkmenbaşy	Balkan province
Türkmenbaşy	34,119	65,550	0.5205/km²	8	20	Türkmenbaşy şäherçesi	Balkan province
Akdepe	130,681	2,326	56.18/km²	14	49	Akdepe	Daşoguz province
Boldumsaz	102,435	564.05	181.6/km²	9	36	Boldumsaz	Daşoguz province
Daşoguz	201,142	160.6	1,252/km²	1	0	Daşoguz	Daşoguz province
Garaşsyzlyk	210,249	8,944	23.51/km²	13	67	Andalyp	Daşoguz province
Görogly	164,894	14,800	11.14/km²	15	73	Görogly	Daşoguz province
Gubadag	155,061	668.95	231,8/km²	15	67	Gubadag	Daşoguz province
Köneürgenç	176,784	1,318	134.1/km²	17	72	Köneürgenç	Daşoguz province
Ruhubelent	28,172	17,820	1.581/km²	10	42	Ruhubelent	Daşoguz province
Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy	162,861	19,740	8.250/km²	27	111	Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy	Daşoguz province
Şabat	218,075	7,179	30.38/km²	16	77	Şabat	Daşoguz province
Çärjew	154,397	26,525	5.820/km²	12	92	Çärjew	Lebap Province
Dänew	159,634	6,089	26.22/km²	18	61	Dänew	Lebap Province
Darganata	57,952	14,890	3.892/km²	8	9	Darganata	Lebap Province
Döwletli	104,864	4,043	25.94/km²	13	41	Döwletli	Lebap Province
Farap	79,302	3,964	20.005/km²	9	32	Farap	Lebap Province
Garabekewül	60,403	4,989	12.11/km²	11	30	Garabekewül	Lebap Province
Halaç	133,909	1,800	74.39/km²	10	31	Halaç	Lebap Province
Hojambaz	82,809	5,770	14.35/km²	9	29	Hojambaz	Lebap Province
Kerki	132,562	17,550	7.553/km²	10	29	Kerki	Lebap Province
Köýtendag	122,523	4,789	25.58/km²	15	29	Köýtendag	Lebap Province
Saýat	128,082	5,901	21.705/km²	20	47	Saýat	Lebap Province
Türkmenabat	230,861	158.5	1,457/km²	1	0	Türkmenabat	Lebap Province
Baýramaly	70,376	28.94	2,432/km²	1	0	Baýramaly	Mary Province
Baýramaly	170,462	10,390	16.41/km²	17	23	Baýramaly	Mary Province
Garagum	62,218	2,452	25.37/km²	8	18	Ýagtyýol	Mary Province
[Mary, Turkmenistan\|Mary District\|Mary]	167,027	83.04	2,011/km²	1	0	Mary	Mary Province
Mary	173,140	1,352	128.1/km²	18	28	Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy	Mary Province
Murgap	174,177	5,637	30.90/km²	17	32	Murgap	Mary Province
Oguzhan	35,849	2,044	17.54/km²	11	12	Parahat	Mary Province
Sakarçäge	176,394	9,828	17.95/km²	18	29	Sakarçäge	Mary Province
Tagtabazar	134,751	28,190	4.780/km²	17	29	Tagtabazar	Mary Province
Türkmengala	124,642	9,112	13.68/km²	14	41	Türkmengala	Mary Province
Wekilbazar	168,734	9,430	17.89/km²	16	33	Mollanepes	Mary Province
Ýolöten	155,616	8,677	17.93/km²	18	46	Ýolöten	Mary Province
Awaza				0	0		Türkmenbaşy

List of districts for each province

Aşgabat

See also
As of January 5, 2018, Ashgabat includes four boroughs :

Name	Population	Area	Density	Number of towns, cities and rural councils	Number of villages	Administrative division
Bagtyýarlyk	309,619	271.6	1,140/km²	0	0	Aşgabat
Berkararlyk	266,425	70.92	3,757/km²	0	0	Aşgabat
Büzmeýin	175,179	449.1	390.1/km²	0	0	Aşgabat
Köpetdag	278,840	187.7	1,486/km²	0	0	Aşgabat

Abolished districts

Here is a list districts abolished at some point:

Altyn Asyr District - Abolished on January 5, 2018, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Archabil District
Beýik Türkmenbaşy District
Çandybil District
Derweze District
Döwletli District - Abolished on November 9, 2022, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Farap District - Abolished on November 9, 2022, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Garabekewül District - Abolished on November 25, 2017, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Gubadag District - Abolished on November 9, 2022, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Gurbansoltan Eje District - Abolished on November 9, 2022, then reestablished on September 19, 2025, with the name of Garaşsyzlyk.
Kenar District
Magdanly District
Oguzhan District - Abolished on November 9, 2022, then reestablished on September 19, 2025.
Ruhabat District
Sakar District
Serhetabat District