List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland
The urban districts and rural districts of Northern Ireland had their origin in 1899, when the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 came into effect. They were based on the system of district councils introduced in England and Wales four years earlier. (See List of Irish local government areas 1898–1921 for a historical list of districts in all of Ireland.) At the time of Northern Ireland's creation in 1921, Ireland as a whole was divided into thirty-three administrative counties and six county boroughs; the administrative counties were in turn subdivided  into a number of boroughs, urban districts, and rural districts. Each district was itself divided into a number of District Electoral Divisions. Northern Ireland received a total of six administrative counties, together with the county boroughs of Belfast and Derry. The six administrative counties all included a number of urban and rural districts in 1921, but no boroughs. Evolution and reform. Urban District Councils could petition for a charter of incorporation, changing the status of the urban district to that of a Borough. The following districts became boroughs in this way: A small number of districts were abolished or created  after 1921. The entire system of local government in Northern Ireland was overhauled by the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, which replaced the county boroughs, administrative counties, urban districts, and rural districts with 26 local government districts. The new system came into effect on 1 October 1973. Urban and rural districts by administrative county. County Armagh. § Lurgan Rural District was abolished on 1 April 1967, and a small part transferred to Lurgan Borough. The rest was assigned to the new Craigavon Urban District, but Craigavon Development Commission rather than Lurgan Rural District Council became Craigavon Urban District Council. County  Fermanagh. † All district councils in Fermanagh were abolished in 1968, merging with Fermanagh County Council to create a unitary county council. County Londonderry. † The district is now known as Derry. ‡ In 1969 Londonderry Rural District was redesignated as Londonderry Urban District, its council was abolished, and its municipal governance transferred to the Londonderry Development Commission, which had also replaced the corporation of Londonderry County Borough (which the rural district surrounded).