Kyrgyzstan to abolish regions and districts: about 20 counties will replace them

Regions and districts will be replaced by counties

Kyrgyzstan plans to abolish all regions and districts and replace them with counties — units larger than a district but smaller than a region. This was reported, citing Elchibek Dzhantaev, head of the State Agency for Civil Service and Local Self-Government, by Kaktus.media, a publication referenced by Kun.uz. According to Dzhantaev, instead of the current 40 districts, the country will have more than 20 counties.

The consolidation principle

Kyrgyzstan is currently divided into seven regions comprising 40 districts and 34 cities. Dzhantaev explained the logic of the reform with examples: the Issyk-Kul region could be divided into southern and northern parts, while in the Jalal-Abad and Osh regions there are both small districts and districts with development potential — these will be merged on that basis and then divided into counties.

The second stage of the reform and the pilot county

The transition to counties marks the second stage of the administrative-territorial reform, whose first stage began in 2023: back then, the borders of certain districts were adjusted and a number of settlements were incorporated into cities. In April 2026, President Sadyr Zhaparov, announcing the reform, said that an experimental county would first be created on a trial basis. 'For one, two, or three years we will observe how it works: whether it can govern itself, whether it can move away from subsidies from the republican budget or not. If everything goes successfully, we will abolish the regions and districts and move to a county system,' Kun.uz quoted the president as saying. Thus, the abolition of regions and districts is a declared plan which, according to Zhaparov, will be implemented only after the successful outcome of the pilot project.