An autonomous area or autonomous entity is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often federacies. Autonomous areas can be divided into territorial autonomies, subregional territorial autonomies and local autonomies.

Many autonomous areas lie within two of the world's largest countries, People's Republic of China and Russia.

China (PRC) has five types of autonomous areas.

Found only as divisions of Inner Mongolia. In effect, these are autonomous counties (see below).

The most numerous type of autonomous area in China, found both within and outside the larger autonomous prefectures and regions.

China has 30 prefectures that are autonomous, mostly in the periphery of the country.

A first-level administrative subdivision of China. There are five ARs in China. They are Inner Mongolia AR, Tibet AR, Ningxia Hui AR, Xinjiang Uyghur AR, and Guangxi Zhuang AR. Regardless of the names, these regions are in fact less autonomous than the special administrative regions of China.