Departments of France

In the administrative divisions of France, the department (French: département, pronounced [depaʁt(ə)mɑ̃]) is one of the three levels of government below the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the commune. Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, and five are overseas departments, which are also classified as regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334 arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons; the last two have no autonomy, and are used for the organisation of police, fire departments, and sometimes, elections.

Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council (conseil départemental (sing.), conseils départementaux (plur.)). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils (conseil général (sing.), conseils généraux (plur.)).^[1] Each council has a president. Their main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school (collège) buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents the government; however, regions have gained importance in this regard since the 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services.

The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The division of France into departments was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader the Abbé Sieyès, although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of d'Argenson. They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies.

Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the "Official Geographical Code", allocated by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. Overseas departments have a three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. While residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, more distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know the numbers of all the departments. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as "the 45".

In 2014, President François Hollande proposed to abolish departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and to transfer their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been abandoned.

History[edit]

The 101 departments of France, prior to the 2018 merger of Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse

Geometrical proposition rejected

French provinces (color) and
departments (black borders) in 1791

The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration.^[2]

Before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of 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.

The modern departments, as all-purpose units of the government, were created on 4 March 1790 by the National Constituent Assembly to replace the provinces with what the Assembly deemed a more rational structure. Their boundaries served two purposes:

• Boundaries were chosen to break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation.
• Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a day's ride of the capital of a department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the entire national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror,^{[citation needed]} during which the government had lost control of many rural areas far from any centre of government.

Departments at the maximum extent of the First French Empire (1812)

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, had been increased to 130 by 1809 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 and the number of departments was reduced to 86 (three of the original departments having 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 the alphabetical order of their names.

The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and 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 remained French, however, and became known as the Territoire de Belfort, and the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a new Meurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I, the Territoire de Belfort was not re-integrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922, it became France's 90th department. Likewise, the Lorraine departments were not changed back to their original boundaries, and a new Moselle department was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name.

The re-organisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division of Corsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when the overseas collectivity of Mayotte became a department, joining the earlier overseas departments of the Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana, Guadeloupe (1946), Martinique, and Réunion, and Mayotte) – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015, the Urban Community of Lyon was split from Rhône to form the Métropole de Lyon, a sui-generis entity, with the powers of both an intercommunality and those of a department on its territory, formally classified as a “territorial collectivity with particular status” (French: collectivité territoriale à statut particulier) and as such not belonging to any department. In 2018, the two departments of Corsica re-merged to form a single territorial collectivity (simultaneously region and department), reducing number of departments to 100.

General characteristics[edit]

Population density in the departments (2007), showing the empty diagonal

The departmental seat of government is known as the prefecture (préfecture) or chef-lieu de département and is generally a town 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 on 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 may be divided into arrondissements. The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture (sous-préfecture) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement.

Each department is administered by a departmental council (conseil départemental), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage, with the president of the council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the executive of a department was the prefect (préfet) who represents the French government in each department and is appointed by the president of France. The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects (sous-préfet) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982, the prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils.

The departments are further divided into communes, governed by municipal councils. As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In the overseas territories, some communes play a role at departmental level. Paris, the country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department.

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 the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales 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 and Wales. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km², and a population between 320,000 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 for addresses in both departments do still start with 20. The two-digit code "98" 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 three digits—e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe (see table below).

Originally, the relationship between the departments and the central government was left somewhat ambiguous. While citizens in each department elected their own officials, the local governments were subordinated to the central government, becoming instruments of national integration. By 1793, however, the revolutionary government had turned the departments into transmission belts for policies enacted in Paris. With few exceptions, the departments had this role until the early 1960s.

Party political preferences[edit]

These maps cannot be used as a useful resource of voter preferences, because Departmental Councils are elected on a two-round system, which drastically limits the chances of fringe parties, if they are not supported on one of the two rounds by a moderate party. After the 1992 election, the left had a majority in only 21 of the 100 departments; after the 2011 election, the left dominated 61 of the 100 departments. (Mayotte only became a department after the election.)

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the cantonal elections of 1998.

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2001.

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2004.

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2008.

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2011.

• 

  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2015.

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)

Future[edit]

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.^[3]

In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years.^[4]

Nevertheless, the Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of reducing the number of regions to 15.^[5] This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.^[5]

Maps and tables[edit]

Current departments[edit]

Each department has a coat of arms with which it is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognized or used.

INSEE code Arms 1 Department Prefecture Region Named after 01 Ain Bourg-en-Bresse  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Ain (river) 02 Aisne Laon  Hauts-de-France Aisne (river) 03 Allier Moulins  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Allier (river) 04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 2 Digne-les-Bains  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps 05 Hautes-Alpes Gap  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps 06 Alpes-Maritimes Nice  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps 07 Ardèche Privas  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Ardèche (river) 08 Ardennes Charleville-Mézières  Grand Est Ardennes Forest 09 Ariège Foix  Occitanie Ariège (river) 10 Aube Troyes  Grand Est Aube (river) 11 Aude Carcassonne  Occitanie Aude (river) 12 Aveyron Rodez  Occitanie Aveyron (river) 13 Bouches-du-Rhône Marseille  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Rhône (river) 14 Calvados Caen  Normandy Calvados rocks 15 Cantal Aurillac  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mounts of Cantal 16 Charente Angoulême  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Charente (river) 17 Charente-Maritime 3 La Rochelle  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Charente (river) 18 Cher Bourges  Centre-Val de Loire Cher (river) 19 Corrèze Tulle  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Corrèze (river) 20 Corse 19 Ajaccio  Corsica Island of Corsica 21 Côte-d'Or Dijon  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Côte d'Or (escarpment) 22 Côtes-d'Armor 4 Saint-Brieuc Brittany coasts of Armorica 23 Creuse Guéret  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Creuse (river) 24 Dordogne Périgueux  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Dordogne (river) 25 Doubs Besançon  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Doubs (river) 26 Drôme Valence  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Drôme (river) 27 Eure Évreux  Normandy Eure (river) 28 Eure-et-Loir Chartres  Centre-Val de Loire Eure and Loir rivers 29 Finistère Quimper Brittany Finis Terræ (end of earth) 30 Gard Nîmes  Occitanie Gardon (river) 31 Haute-Garonne Toulouse  Occitanie Garonne (river) 32 Gers Auch  Occitanie Gers (river) 33 Gironde 5 Bordeaux  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Gironde (river) 34 Hérault Montpellier  Occitanie Hérault (river) 35 Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes Brittany Ille and Vilaine rivers 36 Indre Châteauroux  Centre-Val de Loire Indre (river) 37 Indre-et-Loire Tours  Centre-Val de Loire Indre and Loire rivers 38 Isère Grenoble  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Isère (river) 39 Jura Lons-le-Saunier  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Jura Mountains 40 Landes Mont-de-Marsan  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Landes forest 41 Loir-et-Cher Blois  Centre-Val de Loire Loir and Cher rivers 42 Loire Saint-Étienne  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Loire (river) 43 Haute-Loire Le Puy-en-Velay  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Loire (river) 44 Loire-Atlantique 6 Nantes  Pays de la Loire Loire (river) 45 Loiret Orléans  Centre-Val de Loire Loiret (river) 46 Lot Cahors  Occitanie Lot (river) 47 Lot-et-Garonne Agen  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Lot and Garonne rivers 48 Lozère Mende  Occitanie Mont Lozère 49 Maine-et-Loire 7 Angers  Pays de la Loire Maine and Loire rivers 50 Manche Saint-Lô  Normandy English Channel 51 Marne Châlons-en-Champagne  Grand Est Marne (river) 52 Haute-Marne Chaumont  Grand Est Marne (river) 53 Mayenne Laval  Pays de la Loire Mayenne (river) 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle Nancy  Grand Est Meurthe and Moselle rivers 55 Meuse Bar-le-Duc  Grand Est Meuse (river) 56 Morbihan Vannes Brittany Gulf of Morbihan 57 Moselle Metz  Grand Est Moselle (river) 58 Nièvre Nevers  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Nièvre (river) 59 Nord Lille  Hauts-de-France North 60 Oise Beauvais  Hauts-de-France Oise (river) 61 Orne Alençon  Normandy Orne (river) 62 Pas-de-Calais Arras  Hauts-de-France Strait of Dover 63 Puy-de-Dôme Clermont-Ferrand  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Puy de Dôme volcano 64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques 8 Pau  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Pyrenees 65 Hautes-Pyrénées Tarbes  Occitanie Pyrenees 66 Pyrénées-Orientales Perpignan  Occitanie Pyrenees 67 Bas-Rhin Strasbourg  Grand Est Rhine (river) 68 Haut-Rhin Colmar  Grand Est Rhine (river) 69 Rhône Lyon (provisional)  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Rhône (river) 69M Lyon Metropolis 18 Lyon  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes commune of Lyon 70 Haute-Saône Vesoul  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône (river) 71 Saône-et-Loire Mâcon  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône and Loire rivers 72 Sarthe Le Mans  Pays de la Loire Sarthe (river) 73 Savoie Chambéry  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Savoy 74 Haute-Savoie Annecy  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Savoy 75 Paris 9 Paris  Île-de-France commune of Paris 76 Seine-Maritime 10 Rouen  Normandy Seine (river) 77 Seine-et-Marne Melun  Île-de-France Seine and Marne rivers 78 Yvelines 11 Versailles  Île-de-France Forest of Yvelines 79 Deux-Sèvres Niort  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Sèvre Nantaise and Sèvre Niortaise rivers 80 Somme Amiens  Hauts-de-France Somme (river) 81 Tarn Albi  Occitanie Tarn (river) 82 Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban  Occitanie Tarn and Garonne rivers 83 Var Toulon  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Var (river) 84 Vaucluse Avignon  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Fontaine-de-Vaucluse spring 85 Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon  Pays de la Loire Vendée (river) 86 Vienne Poitiers  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Vienne (river) 87 Haute-Vienne Limoges  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Vienne (river) 88 Vosges Épinal  Grand Est Vosges Mountains 89 Yonne Auxerre  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Yonne (river) 90 Territoire de Belfort Belfort  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté commune of Belfort 91 Essonne 12 Évry  Île-de-France Essonne (river) 92 Hauts-de-Seine 13 Nanterre  Île-de-France Seine (river) 93 Seine-Saint-Denis 14 Bobigny  Île-de-France Seine (river) 94 Val-de-Marne Créteil  Île-de-France Marne (river) 95 Val-d'Oise Pontoise 15  Île-de-France Oise (river) 971 Guadeloupe 16 Basse-Terre  Guadeloupe Island of Guadeloupe 972 Martinique 16 Fort-de-France  Martinique Island of Martinique 973 Guyane 16 Cayenne  French Guiana The Guianas 974 La Réunion 16 Saint-Denis  Réunion Island of Réunion 976 Mayotte 17 Mamoudzou  Mayotte Island of Mayotte Notes: ^1 Most of the coats of arms are not official ^2 This department was known as Basses-Alpes ("Lower Alps") until 1970 ^3 This department was known as Charente-Inférieure ("Lower Charente") until 1941 ^4 This department was known as Côtes-du-Nord ("Coasts of the North") until 1990 ^5 This department was known as Bec-d'Ambès ("Beak of Ambès") from 1793 until 1795. The Convention eliminated the name to avoid recalling the outlawed Girondin political faction. ^6 This department was known as Loire-Inférieure ("Lower Loire") until 1957 ^7 This department was known as Mayenne-et-Loire ("Mayenne and Loire") until 1791 ^8 This department was known as Basses-Pyrénées ("Lower Pyrenees") until 1969 ^9 Number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine ^10 This department was known as Seine-Inférieure ("Lower Seine") until 1955 ^11 Number 78 was formerly assigned to Seine-et-Oise ^12 Number 91 was formerly assigned to Alger, in French Algeria ^13 Number 92 was formerly assigned to Oran, in French Algeria ^14 Number 93 was formerly assigned to Constantine, in French Algeria ^15 The prefecture of Val-d'Oise was established in Pontoise when the department was created, but moved de facto to the neighbouring commune of Cergy; currently, both part of the ville nouvelle of Cergy-Pontoise ^16 The overseas departments each constitute a region and enjoy a status identical to metropolitan France. They are part of France and the European Union, though special EU rules apply to them. ^17 Mayotte became the 101st department of France on 31 March 2011. The INSEE code of Mayotte is 976 (975 is already assigned to the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon) ^18 Metropoles with territorial collectivity statute. ^19 Divided into two departments (Golo and Liamone) from 1793 to 1811, and again into two departments (Corse-du-Sud, number 2A, and Haute-Corse, number 2B) from 1975 to 2018.

Regions and departments of metropolitan France; the numbers are those of the first column The departments in the immediate vicinity of Paris; the numbers are those of the first column

Former departments[edit]

Former departments of the current territory of France[edit]

Departments of Algeria (Départements d'Algérie)[edit]

The three Algerian departments in 1848

Departments of French Algeria from 1957 to 1962

Unlike the rest of French-controlled Africa, Algeria was divided into overseas departments from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future.

Departments in former French colonies[edit]

Departments of the Napoleonic Empire in Europe[edit]

There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France:

Notes for Table 7:

1. Where a Napoleonic department was composed of parts from more than one country, the nation-state containing the prefecture is listed. Please expand this table to list all countries containing significant parts of the department.
2. Territories that were a part of Austrian Netherlands were also a part of Holy Roman Empire.
3. The Bishopric of Basel was a German Prince-Bishopric, not to be confused with the adjacent Swiss Canton of Basel.
4. The territories of the Republic of Venice were lost to France, becoming the Septinsular Republic, a nominal vassal of the Ottoman Empire, from 1800–07. After reverting to France at the Treaty of Tilsit, these territories then became a British protectorate, as the United States of the Ionian Islands
5. Maastricht was a condominium of the Dutch Republic and the Bishopric of Liège.
6. On 6 June 1805, as a result of the annexation of the Ligurian Republic (the puppet successor state to the Republic of Genoa), Tanaro was abolished and its territory divided between the departments of Marengo, Montenotte and Stura.
7. Before becoming the department of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
8. Before becoming the department of Arno, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the Kingdom of Etruria.
9. Rome was known as the department du Tibre until 1810.
10. Before becoming the departments of Bouches-du-Rhin, Bouches-de-l'Escaut, Bouches-de-la-Meuse, Bouches-de-l'Yssel, Ems-Occidental, Frise, Yssel-Supérieur and Zuyderzée, these territories of the Dutch Republic were converted to a puppet successor state, the Batavian Republic (1795–1806), then those territories that had not already been annexed (all except the first two departments here), along with the Prussian County of East Frisia, were converted to another puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland.
11. Before becoming the department of Simplon, the République des Sept Dizains was converted to a revolutionary République du Valais (16 March 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (1 May 1798) into the puppet Helvetic Republic until 1802 when it became the independent Rhodanic Republic.
12. In the months before Lippe was formed, the arrondissements of Rees and Münster were part of Yssel-Supérieur, the arrondissement of Steinfurt was part of Bouches-de-l'Yssel and the arrondissement of Neuenhaus was part of Ems-Occidental.

See also[edit]

Book: French departements

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Departments of France.

• ISO 3166-2:FR
• List of French departments by population, area and population density

References[edit]