French Departments

The departments of France and many of its former colonies are administrative divisions. The 100 French departments are grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas regions, all of which have identical legal status as integral parts of France. The departments are subdivided into 342 arrondissements, which in turn, are divided into cantons. Each canton consists of a small number of communes. In the overseas territories, some of the communes play a role at departmental level.

History

Before the French Revolution, France accumulated territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of more or less independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces. During the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Departments were created on 4 March 1790 by the National Constituent Assembly to replace the provinces with what the Assembly deemed a more rational structure. They were designed to deliberately break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments. Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine.

The number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1810 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire (see Provinces of the Netherlands for the annexed Dutch departments). Following Napoleon's defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size; the number of departments was reduced to 86, as three of the original departments had been split. In 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of the Var department. The 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order.

The departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin, and most of Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. A small part of Haut-Rhin however remained French, and became known as the Territoire de Belfort. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I, the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922, it became France's 90th department.

The reorganisation of lower France (1968) and the division of Corsica (1975) added six more departments, raising the total to 96. Counting the four overseas departments—French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion—the total comes to 100 departments. In 2011, the overseas collectivity of Mayotte will become the 101st department.

General characteristics

The departmental seat of government is called the prefecture (préfecture) or chef-lieu de department and is generally a city of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for the prefecture to be accessible by horseback from any town in the department within 24 hours. The prefecture is not necessarily the largest city in the department; for instance, in Saône-et-Loire department the capital is Mâcon, but the largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône. Departments are divided into one or more arrondissements. The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture (sous-préfecture) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement.

Each department is administered by a general council (conseil général), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage, with the president of the council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the excutive of a department was the prefect (préfet) who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed the President of France. The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects (sous-préfet) based in the subprefectures of the department.

The departments are further divided into communes, governed by municipal councils. As of 1999, there were 36,779 communes in France.

In continental France (metropolitan France, excluding Corsica), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km2 (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of a ceremonial county of England and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of a county of the United States. At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,012 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a U.S. county, but less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km², and a population between 250,000 and 1 million. The largest in area is Gironde (10,000 km²), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km²). The most populous is Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous is Lozère (74,000).

The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes, in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number-plates. Initially, the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names, so the correspondence became less exact. There is no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead, for Corsica. Corsican postal codes or addresses in both departments do still start with 20, though. The two-digit code "96" is used by Monaco. Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code, e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe.

Party-political preferences

Key to the parties:

Divers Centre = Independents of the Centre or Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate)
Divers Droite (DVD) = Independent conservatives
Divers Gauche (DVG) = Independent left-wing politicians
MPF = Movement for France (Mouvement pour la France) (right)
Nouveau Centre = New Centre (centre or centre-right)
PCF = French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Français)
PRG = Radical Party of the Left (Parti Radical de Gauche)
PS = Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste)
UDF = Union for French Democracy (Union pour la Démocratie Française) succeeded by Democratic Movement
UMP = Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire)

The future

The removal of one or more levels of local government has been discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the departmental level. Frédéric Lefebvre, spokesman for the UMP, said in December 2008, that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by Édouard Balladur and Gérard Longuet, members of the Committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee.

In January 2008, the Commission for freeing French development, known as the Attali Commission, recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years.

Nevertheless, the Committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the 100 departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments," which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of bringing the number of the latter down to fifteen. This committee advocates on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.

Since April 2009, a departmental number is still included but it is now one chosen by the vehicle owner and not necessarily the place of residence. Also, the number of the department is automatically accompanied on the number plate by the logo of the region in which the department lies

INSEE	Department	Prefecture	Region
01	Ain	Bourg-en-Bresse	Rhône-Alpes
02	Aisne	Laon	Picardie
03	Allier	Moulins	Auvergne
04	Alpes-de-Haute-Provence	Digne-les-Bains	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
05	Hautes-Alpes	Gap	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
06	Alpes-Maritimes	Nice	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
07	Ardèche	Privas	Rhône-Alpes
08	Ardennes	Charleville-Mézières	Champagne-Ardenne
09	Ariège	Foix	Midi-Pyrénées
10	Aube	Troyes	Champagne-Ardenne
11	Aude	Carcassonne	Languedoc-Roussillon
12	Aveyron	Rodez	Midi-Pyrénées
13	Bouches-du-Rhône	Marseille	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
14	Calvados	Caen	Basse-Normandie
15	Cantal	Aurillac	Auvergne
16	Charente	Angoulême	Poitou-Charentes
17	Charente-Maritime	La Rochelle	Poitou-Charentes
18	Cher	Bourges	Centre
19	Corrèze	Tulle	Limousin
2A	Corse-du-Sud	Ajaccio	Corsica
2B	Haute-Corse	Bastia	Corsica
21	Côte-d'Or	Dijon	Bourgogne
22	Côtes-d'Armor	Saint-Brieuc	Bretagne
23	Creuse	Guéret	Limousin
24	Dordogne	Périgueux	Aquitaine
25	Doubs	Besançon	Franche-Comté
26	Drôme	Valence	Rhône-Alpes
27	Eure	Évreux	Haute-Normandie
28	Eure-et-Loir	Chartres	Centre
29	Finistère	Quimper	Bretagne
30	Gard	Nîmes	Languedoc-Roussillon
31	Haute-Garonne	Toulouse	Midi-Pyrénées
32	Gers	Auch	Midi-Pyrénées
33	Gironde	Bordeaux	Aquitaine
34	Hérault	Montpellier	Languedoc-Roussillon
35	Ille-et-Vilaine	Rennes	Bretagne
36	Indre	Châteauroux	Centre
37	Indre-et-Loire	Tours	Centre
38	Isère	Grenoble	Rhône-Alpes
39	Jura	Lons-le-Saunier	Franche-Comté
40	Landes	Mont-de-Marsan	Aquitaine
41	Loir-et-Cher	Blois	Centre
42	Loire	Saint-Étienne	Rhône-Alpes
43	Haute-Loire	Le Puy-en-Velay	Auvergne
44	Loire-Atlantique	Nantes	Pays de la Loire
45	Loiret	Orléans	Centre
46	Lot	Cahors	Midi-Pyrénées
47	Lot-et-Garonne	Agen	Aquitaine
48	Lozère	Mende	Languedoc-Roussillon
49	Maine-et-Loire ⁷	Angers	Pays de la Loire
50	Manche	Saint-Lô	Basse-Normandie
51	Marne	Châlons-en-Champagne	Champagne-Ardenne
52	Haute-Marne	Chaumont	Champagne-Ardenne
53	Mayenne	Laval	Pays de la Loire
54	Meurthe-et-Moselle	Nancy	Lorraine
55	Meuse	Bar-le-Duc	Lorraine
56	Morbihan	Vannes	Bretagne
57	Moselle	Metz	Lorraine
58	Nièvre	Nevers	Bourgogne
59	Nord	Lille	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
60	Oise	Beauvais	Picardie
61	Orne	Alençon	Basse-Normandie
62	Pas-de-Calais	Arras	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
63	Puy-de-Dôme	Clermont-Ferrand	Auvergne
64	Pyrénées-Atlantiques	Pau	Aquitaine
65	Hautes-Pyrénées	Tarbes	Midi-Pyrénées
66	Pyrénées-Orientales	Perpignan	Languedoc-Roussillon
67	Bas-Rhin	Strasbourg	Alsace
68	Haut-Rhin	Colmar	Alsace
69	Rhône	Lyon	Rhône-Alpes
70	Haute-Saône	Vesoul	Franche-Comté
71	Saône-et-Loire	Mâcon	Bourgogne
72	Sarthe	Le Mans	Pays de la Loire
73	Savoie	Chambéry	Rhône-Alpes
74	Haute-Savoie	Annecy	Rhône-Alpes
75	Paris	Paris	Île-de-France
76	Seine-Maritime	Rouen	Haute-Normandie
77	Seine-et-Marne	Melun	Île-de-France
78	Yvelines	Versailles	Île-de-France
79	Deux-Sèvres	Niort	Poitou-Charentes
80	Somme	Amiens	Picardie
81	Tarn	Albi	Midi-Pyrénées
82	Tarn-et-Garonne	Montauban	Midi-Pyrénées
83	Var	Toulon	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
84	Vaucluse	Avignon	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
85	Vendée	La Roche-sur-Yon	Pays de la Loire
86	Vienne	Poitiers	Poitou-Charentes
87	Haute-Vienne	Limoges	Limousin
88	Vosges	Épinal	Lorraine
89	Yonne	Auxerre	Bourgogne
90	Territoire de Belfort	Belfort	Franche-Comté
91	Essonne	Évry	Île-de-France
92	Hauts-de-Seine	Nanterre	Île-de-France
93	Seine-Saint-Denis	Bobigny	Île-de-France
94	Val-de-Marne	Créteil	Île-de-France
95	Val-d'Oise	Pontoise	Île-de-France
971	Guadeloupe	Basse-Terre	Guadeloupe
972	Martinique	Fort-de-France	Martinique
973	Guyane	Cayenne	French Guiana
974	La Réunion	Saint-Denis	Réunion