Federal districts are a type of administrative division of a federation, under the direct control of a federal government. They often include capital districts and they exist in various countries and states all over the world.

The seat of the U.S. federal government in Washington is a federal district known as the "District of Columbia", which is not part of any state. In main addition, the U.S. government has several other kinds of "federal districts" which are not specifically related to a capital city:

Collectively, such federally administered areas that are not part of any state are called federal enclaves.

The term Distrito Federal, meaning "Federal District" in both the Spanish and Portuguese languages, is used to refer to:

In Malaysia, the term Federal Territory (Malay: Wilayah Persekutuan) is used for the three territories governed directly by the federal government, namely Kuala Lumpur (national capital), Putrajaya (federal government administrative centre) and Labuan Island (international offshore financial centre).