Territories ofFrance, excluding Antarctic territories. Citizens from all these territories, including the overseas administrative divisions, areFrench citizens, vote in national elections (presidential,legislative), and all of the inhabited territories are represented in theSenate.
Theadministrative divisions of France are concerned with the institutional and territorial organization of French territory. These territories are located in many parts of the world. There are many administrative divisions, which may have political (local government), electoral (districts), or administrative (decentralized services of the state) objectives. All the inhabited territories are represented in theNational Assembly,Senate andEconomic and Social Council and their citizens haveFrench citizenship and elect thePresident of France.
The French Republic is divided into 18 regions: 12 in mainland France and 6 elsewhere (1 inEurope:Corsica; 2 in theCaribbean (theLesser Antilles):Guadeloupe andMartinique; 1 inSouth America:French Guiana; and 2 in theIndian Ocean nearEast Africa:Mayotte andRéunion). They are traditionally divided between the metropolitan regions, located on the European continent, and the overseas regions, located outside the European continent. Both have the same status and form the most integrated part of the French Republic.
The city ofMarseille is also divided into 8 municipal sectors. Each sector is composed of two arrondissements.
There are also 710associated communes (as of January 2009[update]), formerly independent communes which were merged with larger communes but have retained some limited degree of autonomy (e.g., the commune ofLomme which was absorbed byLille in 2000 and transformed into an "associated commune" inside the commune of Lille).
Each overseas region is coextensive with anoverseas department (département d'outre-mer, or DOM), again with the same status as departments in metropolitan France. The first four overseas departments were created in 1946 and preceded the four overseas regions, Mayotte became a DOM in 2011. The dual structure of overseas region and overseas department, with two separate assemblies administering the same territory, results from the extension of the regional scheme to the overseas departments in the 1970s. Each overseas region or department may transform into asingle territorial collectivity, with the merger of the regional and departmental assemblies, which voters in Martinique and French Guiana approved in two referendums in 2010. In Réunion, the creation of a second department for the southern part of the island has been debated for some time.
The overseas departments are subdivided into 12 arrondissements (Mayotte does not have arrondissements).
The 12 arrondissements are further subdivided into 153 cantons with Mayotte having another 19 cantons.
The 172 cantons are composed of 129 communes. (In the five DOM, there are more cantons than communes, unlike in metropolitan France, because many communes are divided into several cantons, whereas in metropolitan France in general cantons are made up of several communes, except in large communes like Toulouse or Lille which are divided into several cantons.)
The French Republic includes fiveoverseas collectivities (collectivités d'outre-mer, or COM) with a semi-autonomous status:
French Polynesia (designated as an "overseas country", French:pays d'outre-mer) is divided into 5 administrative subdivisions (subdivisions administratives). For elections, it is divided into six electoral districts (circonscriptions électorales), which differ slightly from the 5 administrative subdivisions. The 5 administrative subdivisions are divided into 48 communes. There also exist someassociated communes as in metropolitan France.
Saint Barthélemy (designated as a "collectivity", French:collectivité) is a new overseas collectivity created on 22 February 2007. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe department. The commune structure was abolished, and Saint Barthélemy is now one of only three permanently inhabited territories of the French Republic with nocommune structure. There are no cantons and arrondissements either.
Saint Martin (designated as a "collectivity", French:collectivité) is also a new overseas collectivity created on 22 February 2007. It was also previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe department. The commune structure was abolished and Saint Martin is now one of only three permanently inhabited territories of the French Republic with nocommune structure. There are also no cantons or arrondissements.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (designated as a "territorial collectivity", French:collectivité territoriale, the same designation asCorsica, a region and not an overseas collectivity) is divided into 2 communes with no arrondissements or cantons.
Wallis and Futuna (designated as a "territory", French:territoire) is divided into 3 districts (circonscriptions territoriales), which exactly match the three traditional chiefdoms (royaumes coutumiers) with their traditional kings still at their head, the only kings currently recognized in the French Republic. These 3 districts areUvea,Sigave, andAlo. Uvea is the most populous and is further divided into 3 wards (districts in French):Hahake,Mua, andHihifo. Wallis and Futuna is one of only three permanently inhabited territories of the French Republic with no communes (the others being Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin). It also has no arrondissements or cantons.
New Caledonia's status is unique in the French Republic: it is the only French local government that is not aterritorial collectivity (although its subdivisions are territorial collectivities). It is regarded as asui generis collectivity, which means that local government and parliament have the power to pass and enforce specific laws without seeking the consent of the French Government; unless such laws are declared illegitimate by the Constitutional Council in a specific proceeding brought to the Constitutional Council. As agreed in the 1998Nouméa Accord, a New Caledonian citizenship was established (in addition to the French citizenship which is kept in parallel, along with the consequent European citizenship) and aself-determination referendum was held in 2018. Two follow-up referendums were held in2020 and2021.
TheScattered Islands (Îles Éparses), a collection of five non-permanently inhabited island groups in theIndian Ocean:Bassas da India,Europa Island, theGlorioso Islands (includingBanc du Geyser),Juan de Nova Island, andTromelin Island. These were previously administered separately but they have been combined into the French Southern and Antarctic Lands since February 2007. Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar, mainly in the Mozambique Channel, the scattered islands, "confetti of the French colonial empire," are of strategic importance due to the extent of their economic area of interest. France asserts its presence there with small military detachments.[3]
Directly controlled by the Minister of the Overseas
Clipperton Island: an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast ofMexico which is directly under the authority of theMinister of the Overseas inParis (until February 2007 it was administered by the high-commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia). Since the Scattered Islands were also combined with the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in February 2007, Clipperton Island is now the only island left in this category.
French subdivisions that have a (limited) freedom of administration are calledterritorial collectivities. Among them are regions, departments, communes, overseas collectivities, provinces (only present in New Caledonia), and the territorial collectivity of Corsica which belongs to no category (but is usually grouped with the regions). New Caledonia is unique as it is not a territorial collectivity.[citation needed]
Citizens from all parts of France, including the overseas administrative divisions, vote in national elections (presidential,legislative), and all of the collectivities are represented in theSenate.
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Some areas are the clear responsibility of one level of government (e.g. the state is responsible for international issues), but in other areas it is shared across some or all levels of government (e.g. transport, parks, tourism, culture, and sport get different types of support from different levels).
The national government is responsible for the military, foreign policy, immigration, economic policy, environment, agriculture, food and drug safety, health insurance, the justice system,National Police, military police (National Gendarmerie),Paris region emergency services, higher education, research, and national support for culture and sport
Regions cannot write their own laws, but can raise taxes and are responsible for high schools, public transit, universities and research, and assistance to business owners.
Departments are responsible for junior high schools, social and welfare allowances, local roads, school and rural buses, and a subsidy for municipal infrastructure.
Communes are responsible for local roads,municipal police, water management, and garbage collection, vital records, local prosecutions, local elections, and registration for civil service and elections.
Provinces of royal France superimposed by modern administrative boundaries and the names of the actual regionsRegions and departments of France from 1982 to 2015
Historically, France was divided into a complex mosaic of more or less independent entities. Their gradual incorporation into France asprovinces may be followed in the articleTerritorial formation of France.
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