In theadministrative divisions of France, thedepartment (French:département,pronounced[depaʁtəmɑ̃]ⓘ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between theadministrative regions and thecommunes. There are a total of 101 departments, consisting of ninety-six departments inmetropolitan France, and fiveoverseas departments, which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333arrondissements and 2,054cantons (as of 2023).[1] These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as the administrative basis for the local organisation of police, fire departments, and, in certain cases, elections.
The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement ofAncien Régimeprovinces with a view to strengthen national unity;[4] the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole.[5] 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, or after their own administrative seats. The division of France into departments was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader theAbbé Sieyès,[6][7] although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1665 in the writings ofd'Argenson.[8] They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. The1822 territorial division of Spain (reverted due to the1823 French intervention ending thetrienio liberal) and the1833 territorial division of Spain, which forms the basis of the present dayprovinces of Spain with minor modifications, are also based on the French model of departments of roughly equal size.[9]
Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the Official Geographical Code, allocated by theInstitut national de la statistique et des études économiques (Insée).[10] Overseas departments have a three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in thepostal code and was, until the introduction of theSIV scheme in 2009, part of thevehicle registration plate number. Residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, for example inhabitants ofLoiret may refer to their department as "the 45". More distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know the numbers of all the departments.
In 2014, PresidentFrançois Hollande proposed abolishing departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and transferring their powers to other levels of governance.[11] This reform project has since been scrapped.
Geometrical proposition rejectedFrenchprovinces before 1790 (color) and today's departments (black borders)
The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 byMarc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for thePonts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration.[12]
Before theFrench Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the end of theAncien Régime it was organised intoprovinces. During the Revolution they were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. TheNational Constituent Assembly decided to create a more uniform division into departments (département) anddistricts in late 1789.[13] The process began on 4 August 1789 with the elimination of provincial privileges, and a 22 December 1789 decree (withletters patent in January 1790) provided for the termination of the provincial governments.[13]
The modern department system, as all-purpose units of the government, was decreed on 26 February 1790 (with letters patent on 4 March 1790) by theNational Constituent Assembly.[13] 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.
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 ofSeine.Savoy, during its temporary occupation, became the department ofMont-Blanc.[14] The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791.[13]
The number of departments, initially 83, had been increased to130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of theFirst French Empire.[15] Following the defeats ofNapoleon in 1814–1815 theCongress 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 theCounty of Nice andSavoy, which led to the creation of three new departments.[16] Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department ofAlpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of theVar department.[16] The 89 departments were given numbers based on the alphabetical order of their names.[17]
The department ofBas-Rhin and parts ofMeurthe,Moselle,Vosges andHaut-Rhin were ceded to theGerman Empire in 1871 following France's defeat in theFranco-Prussian War. A small part of Haut-Rhin, however, remained French and became known as theTerritoire de Belfort; the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a newMeurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments afterWorld War I, the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated 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 reorganisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division ofCorsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when theoverseas collectivity ofMayotte became a department, joining the earlieroverseas departments of the Republic (all created in 1946) –French Guiana,Guadeloupe,Martinique andRéunion – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015 theUrban Community of Lyon was split fromRhône to form theMétropole de Lyon, asui 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. As of 2019Corse-du-Sud andHaute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have the status of departmental "territorial collectivities": region and department functions have been managed by a "single territorial collectivity" since 2018.
Despite the intention to avoid the old nomenclature, often the names of pre-1790 provinces remained in use. For example, the name ofBerry, though no longer having an official status, remains in widespread use in daily life.
The departmental seat of government is known as theprefecture (préfecture) orchef-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, inSaône-et-Loire department the capital isMâcon, but the largest city isChalon-sur-Saône. Departments may be divided intoarrondissements. The capital of an arrondissement is called asubprefecture (sous-préfecture) orchef-lieu d'arrondissement.
Each department is administered by adepartmental council (conseil départemental), an assembly elected for six years byuniversal suffrage, with thePresident of the Departmental Council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the chief executive of the department was theprefect (préfet), who represents theGovernment of France in each department and is appointed by thePresident of the French Republic. 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. In practice, their role has been largely limited to preventing local policy from conflicting with national policy.
The departments are further divided intocommunes, governed bymunicipal councils. As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In theoverseas territories, some communes play a role at departmental level.Paris, the country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department.
Population density in the departments (2007). The broken lines mark the approximate boundaries of theempty diagonal. The solid line is the Le Havre-Marseille line, to the east of which lives 60% of the French population.
In mainland France (metropolitan France, excludingCorsica), themedian 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 theceremonial counties of England and thepreserved counties of Wales and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of acounty of the United States. At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,000 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a United States 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 (1500 to 3000 sq. mi), and a population between 320,000 and 1 million. The largest in area isGironde (10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi)), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km2 (41 sq mi)). The most populous isNord (2,550,000) and the least populous isLozère (74,000).
The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear inpostal codes, inINSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and onvehicle number plates. Initially the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names and some have been divided, so the correspondence became less exact. Alphanumeric codes 2A and 2B were used forCorsica while it was split but it has since reverted to 20. The two-digit code "98" is used byMonaco. Together with theISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form theISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments have three digits.[citation needed]
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.
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
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 theUMP, 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 byÉdouard Balladur andGérard Longuet, members of the committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee.[18]
In January 2008, theAttali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years.[19]
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.[20] This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.[20]
^2 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence was known asBasses-Alpes ('Lower Alps') until 1970
^3 Charente-Maritime was known asCharente-Inférieure ('LowerCharente') until 1941
^4 Côtes-d'Armor was known asCôtes-du-Nord ('Coasts of the North') until 1990
^5 Gironde was known asBec-d'Ambès ('Beak of Ambès') from 1793 until 1795. The Convention eliminated the name to avoid recalling the outlawedGirondin political faction.
^6 Loire-Atlantique was known asLoire-Inférieure ('LowerLoire') until 1957
^7 Maine-et-Loire was known asMayenne-et-Loire (Mayenne and Loire rivers) until 1791
^8 Pyrénées-Atlantiques was known asBasses-Pyrénées ('Lower Pyrenees') until 1969
^13 Number 92 was formerly assigned toOran, in French Algeria
^14 Number 93 was formerly assigned toConstantine, in French Algeria
^15 The prefecture ofVal-d'Oise was established inPontoise when the department was created, but movedde facto to the neighbouring commune ofCergy; currently, both part of theville nouvelle ofCergy-Pontoise
^19Corsica was divided into two departments (Golo andLiamone) from 1793 to 1811, and again into two departments (Corse-du-Sud, number 2A, andHaute-Corse, number 2B) in 1975. As of 2019, Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have the status of departmental "territorial collectivities": region and department functions have been managed by a "single territorial collectivity" since 2018.
Regions and departments of metropolitan France; the numbers are those of the first column (except for Corsica, which shows the division of the island until 2018, and the division of the Metropolis of Lyon from Rhône is not shown).The departments in the immediate vicinity of Paris; the numbers are those of the first column.
Formed when the Republic of Geneva was annexed into theFrench First Republic and added to territory taken from other departments. Corresponds to the presentSwiss canton ofGeneva and parts of the current departments ofAin andHaute-Savoie.
The three Algerian departments in 1848Departments of French Algeria from 1957 to 1962
Unlike the rest of theFrench possessions in Africa,Algeria was divided into departments just like Corsica or Normandy from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future.
There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during theFrench Revolution andNapoleonic Empire that are now not part of France:
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.
Before becoming the department ofSimplon, theRépublique des Sept Dizains was converted to a revolutionaryRépublique du Valais (16 March 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (1 May 1798) into thepuppetHelvetic Republic until 1802 when it became the independent Rhodanic Republic.
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