Kosovo's 38 municipalities, from Pristina to Zveçan

Kosovo has no counties. Article 12 of the Constitution makes the municipality the basic territorial unit of local self-government, and there are 38 of them. The Kosovo Agency of Statistics (ASK) counts them all, along with 1,469 settlements, and here they are in one table with the Albanian name, the Serbian one (from OpenStreetMap), the region and the population. Below it, what strikes me about the numbers as a traveller.

Pristina, Prizren and Ferizaj lead

Pristina municipality had 227,466 people at the 2024 census, though the city itself has 143,469; the rest live in places such as Matiçan, which ASK counts separately at 38,360. Prizren follows with 147,246 and Ferizaj with 109,255. Along with Pejë and Gjakovë, they’re the ones that matter most for where to stay. The towns, compared by size and what they offer, are in cities in Kosovo.

The biggest changes between 2011 and 2024

Comparing ASK’s two censuses throws up some striking shifts. Fushë Kosovë, right next to Pristina, went from 34,827 to 63,949 people. Graçanicë rose from 10,675 to 18,486, and Shtërpcë, the municipality of Brezovica, from 6,949 to 10,771. On the other hand, Deçan fell from 40,019 to 27,775 and Podujevë from 88,499 to 70,975. ASK doesn’t give reasons in the tables I’ve read, and I won’t guess.

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The north, with two figures

North Mitrovica (Mitrovicë e Veriut), Leposavić, Zubin Potok and Zvečan appear in the table with two different columns, counted and estimated by ASK, because the census barely reached residents there. The extreme case is Zvečan, 434 against 2,867. For 2011, ASK gives no figure for any of the four. Gov.uk flags a risk of protests there, so read is Kosovo safe before heading north.

Very different sizes

Gjakovë has the most settlements, 88, with Pejë on 79 and Podujevë on 77. At the other end, Mamushë has just one, and Junik and Partesh three each. Mamushë is the most unusual entry on the list. Its Turkish name is Mamuşa and, as the Constitution allows, Turkish is an official municipal language there. How the languages fit together is covered in Kosovo language.

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Where the heritage is concentrated

There are 373 sites in the DTK, the culture ministry’s heritage register, and the spread is telling. Prizren has 81, Gjakovë 43, Prishtinë 33 and Pejë 31, which between them account for 188, just over half. By contrast, Mamushë, North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Shtërpcë, Kllokot and Ranillug have none at all in the database.

What this list is good for

It stops you getting lost when the same town turns up with two names on a map, an official table or a bus ticket, and tells you how big the place you’re heading to really is. Drenas, for one, still appears as Gllogoc in ASK’s tables; why that happens is covered in the Kosovan name. To see how the municipalities group together, look at the regions of Kosovo.

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