Administrative division of Chile
The administrative structure of Chile is three-tiered below the central level and is based on Chapter XIV of the 1980 constitution .
Regions
The top level is made up of the 16 regions . The original structure based on Legislative Decree (Decreto Ley) No. 575 of July 10, 1974 provided for 13 regions, namely the metropolitan region of Santiago (Region Metropolitana de Santiago) and regions numbered from north to south with Roman numerals from I to XII. The number XIII is not assigned, but z. B. by the Statistical Institute, the metropolitan region of Santiago in classifications with the number 13. In October 2007, Region XIV was separated from Region X and Region XV from Region I and made independent. On September 6, 2018, Region XVI (Ñuble), formed from the northern province of Region VIII (Bío-Bío), was added.
Tasks and facilities
The regions are each headed by an intendant (Intendente) who only requires the trust of the Chilean President and who resides in the region. The director is the general representative of the president in the region and is subject to his instructions. He is responsible for the coordination, supervision and control of the public institutions in the region.
For the regional administration, there is a regional government (Gobierno regional) for the social, cultural and economic development of the region, which is formed from the director and the regional council. The regional government is a public corporation with its own assets.
The regional council (Consejo regional) is the general decision-making body of the region and is intended to ensure citizen participation. He is directly elected for four years. The re-election of its members is permitted. For its part, the regional council elects a president from among its members with an absolute majority of its members, who can be recalled with a two-thirds majority or resign with the consent of the majority of council members. The deputies and senators elected in the respective region have the right to be present and speak at the meetings of the regional council, but not to vote.
Geographical arrangement
Except for the metropolitan region of Santiago, all regions border both the Pacific and the two eastern neighbors Bolivia and Argentina, so that the elongated country is divided by essentially horizontal borders. The metropolitan area of Santiago lies between Regions V and VI. Due to the new formation of regions XIV, XV (2007) and XVI (2018), the order is no longer continuous from north to south.
List of regions
The following list shows the area and population of the regions and the associated provinces.
Historical development of the regions
The basis of the current division is initially the Legislative Decree (Decreto Ley) No. 575 of July 10, 1974. Article 1 of this article resulted in the formation of the following regions on the basis of the previous division:
number | Capital | previous provinces |
---|---|---|
I. | Iquique | Tarapacá |
II | Antofagasta | Antofagasta |
III | Copiapó | Atacama |
IV | La Serena | Coquimbo |
V | Valparaíso | Aconcagua, Valparaiso; Department of San Antonio (Prov. Santiago) |
VI | Rancagua | O'Higgins, Colchagua |
VII | Talca | Coricó, Talca, Maule, Linares |
VIII | Concepción | Ñuble, Concepción, Arauco, Bío-Bío |
IX | Temuco | Malleco, Cautín |
X | Puerto Montt | Valdivia, Osorno, Llanquihue, Chiloé |
XI | Coyhaique | Aisen |
XII | Punta Arenas | Magallanes, Chilean Antarctic Territory |
Area Metropolitana | Santiago without the department of San Antonio |
By Legislative Decree ( Decreto Ley ) No. 1230 of October 27, 1975, some border adjustments were made, which affected Regions I, II, VIII, IX, X and XI. Region XI was named Aisén del General Carlos Ibañez del Campo , Region XII was named Magallanes y Antártica Chilena .
Legislative Decree 2339 of October 2, 1978 designated the regions as follows:
- I. Región de Tarapacá
- II. Region de Antofagasta
- III. Atacama region
- IV. Región de Coquimbo
- V. Región de Valparaíso
- VI. Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins
- VII. Región del Maule
- VIII. Región del Bío-Bío
- IX. Región de la Araucanía
- X. Región de Los Lagos
- XI. Región Aysen del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
- XII. Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena
- RM. Metropolitan Region of Santiago
Further border adjustments were made by Legislative Decree No. 2867 of September 20, 1979. These affected all regions with the exception of Region VIII Bío-Bío.
Laws 20.174 and 20.175 of March 16 and 23, 2007 created the new regions XIV Los Ríos and XV Arica y Parinacota. The XVI Ñuble region was separated from the Bío-Bío region with effect from September 6, 2018.
Provinces
The regions are in turn divided into 56 provinces . They are each headed by a governor ( gobernador ) who is appointed by the Chilean president and can be removed from office and who is subject to the instructions of the director of the region concerned.
List of provinces
The following list shows the area and population of the provinces. The province of Ñuble , which until then belonged to the VIII. Region (Bío-Bío) with the capital Chillán , became the new XVI. Region (Ñuble) raised and simultaneously divided into three newly created provinces.
region | province | main place | Area (km²) |
Population (2002 census) |
Population (2012 census) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
I. | Iquique | Iquique | 2,835.3 | 216.419 | 275.042 |
I. | Tamarugal | Pozo Almonte | 39,390.5 | 22,531 | 20,053 |
II | Antofagasta | Antofagasta | 67,813.5 | 318.779 | 359.353 |
II | El Loa | Calama | 41,999.6 | 143,689 | 142,686 |
II | Tocopilla | Tocopilla | 16,236.0 | 31,516 | 28,840 |
III | Copiapó | Copiapó | 32,538.5 | 155.713 | 183.973 |
III | Chañaral | Chañaral | 24,436.2 | 32,132 | 28,874 |
III | Huasco | Vallenar | 18,201.5 | 66,491 | 72,145 |
IV | Elqui | Coquimbo | 16,895.1 | 365.371 | 442,999 |
IV | Choapa | Illapel | 10,131.6 | 81,681 | 82,857 |
IV | Limarí | Oval | 13,553.2 | 156.158 | 161,950 |
V | Valparaíso | Valparaíso | 2,146.6 | 651.821 | 713.065 |
V | Isla de Pascua (Easter Island) | Hanga Roa | 163.6 | 3,791 | 5,761 |
V | Los Andes | Los Andes | 3,054.1 | 91,683 | 102,819 |
V | Petorca | La Ligua | 4,588.9 | 70,610 | 72.286 |
V | Quillota | Quillota | 1,113.1 | 175.917 | 190,525 |
V | San Antonio | San Antonio | 1,511.6 | 136,594 | 144.220 |
V | San Felipe de Aconcagua | San Felipe | 2,659.2 | 131,911 | 143,698 |
V | Marga Marga | Quilpué | 1,159.0 | 277,525 | 325.207 |
VI | Cachapoal | Rancagua | 7,384.2 | 542.901 | 601.810 |
VI | Cardenal Caro | Pichilemu | 3,324.8 | 41,160 | 39,068 |
VI | Colchagua | San Fernando | 5,678.0 | 196,566 | 210,528 |
VII | Talca | Talca | 9,937.8 | 352.966 | 370.154 |
VII | Cauquenes | Cauquenes | 3,027.2 | 57,088 | 54,145 |
VII | Curicó | Curicó | 7,280.9 | 244.053 | 266.457 |
VII | Linares | Linares | 10,050.2 | 253,990 | 264.292 |
VIII | Concepción | Concepción | 3,439.0 | 912,889 | 959.336 |
VIII | Arauco | Lebu | 5,463.3 | 157.255 | 157.052 |
VIII | Bío-Bío | Los Angeles | 14,987.9 | 353.315 | 373.981 |
IX | Cautín | Temuco | 18,409.0 | 667.920 | 692,582 |
IX | Malleco | Angol | 13,433.3 | 201.615 | 196.910 |
X | Llanquihue | Puerto Montt | 14,876.4 | 321,493 | 368,427 |
X | Chiloe | Castro | 9,181.6 | 154,766 | 161,654 |
X | Osorno | Osorno | 9,223.7 | 221.509 | 221,496 |
X | Palena | Chaitén | 15,301.9 | 18,971 | 16,137 |
XI | Coyhaique | Coyhaique | 12,942.5 | 51.103 | 54,575 |
XI | Aysén | Puerto Aysén | 46,588.8 | 29,631 | 28,858 |
XI | Captain Prat | Cochrane | 37,043.6 | 3,837 | 4,003 |
XI | General Carrera | Chile Chico | 11,919.5 | 6,921 | 6,835 |
XII | Magallanes | Punta Arenas | 38,400.8 | 121,675 | 128.199 |
XII | Antártica Chilena | Puerto Williams | 1,265,853.7 | 2,392 | 1,792 |
XII | Tierra del Fuego | Porvenir | 22,592.7 | 6,904 | 6,656 |
XII | Última Esperanza | Puerto Natales | 55,443.9 | 19,855 | 18,685 |
XIV | Valdivia | Valdivia | 10,197.2 | 259.243 | 272,527 |
XIV | Ranco | La Unión | 8,232.3 | 97.153 | 91,656 |
XV | Arica | Arica | 8,726.4 | 186,488 | 210.822 |
XV | Parinacota | Putre | 8,146.9 | 3,156 | 1.991 |
XVI | Punilla | San Carlos | 5,202.5 | --- | --- (2017: 106,968) |
XVI | Diguillín | Bulnes | 5,229.5 | --- | --- (2017: 319,809) |
XVI | Itata | Coelemu / Quirihue | 2,746.5 | --- | --- (2017: 53,832) |
RM | Santiago | Santiago | 2,030.3 | 4,668,473 | 4,927,624 |
RM | Cordillera | Puente Alto | 5,528.3 | 522.856 | 608.235 |
RM | Chacabuco | Colina | 2,076.1 | 132,798 | 203.993 |
RM | Maipo | San Bernardo | 1,120.5 | 378,444 | 440,591 |
RM | Melipilla | Melipilla | 4,065.7 | 141.165 | 161,727 |
RM | Talagante | Talagante | 582.3 | 217,449 | 262,665 |
Communities
The municipalities are in the third stage . In 2010 there were 346 municipalities with an area that partly exceeded that of the German federal states. The largest municipality in the country is Puerto Natales (Region XII, Province Última Esperanza) with 48,974.2 km². The smallest municipality is San Ramón (Región Metropolitana de Santiago, Province Santiago) with 6.5 km².
In the 2002 census, Puente Alto (Región Metropolitana de Santiago, Province of Santiago) had the most inhabitants with 492,915 inhabitants, while Ollagüe (Region II, Province of El Loa) had the fewest inhabitants with 318.
The mayor (Alcalde) and the local council (Concejo) are appointed as organs of the municipal administration (Municipalidad) .
The municipal council is elected by universal suffrage for a period of four years. The re-election of its members is permitted.
References
- ↑ Art. 111 para. 1 of the Constitution
- ↑ Article 112 of the Constitution
- ↑ Art. 111 paras. 2 and 3 of the constitution
- ↑ Article 113 of the Constitution
- ↑ Población: por sexo y regiones. (pdf) In: Síntesis de Resultados Censo 2017. Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, Chile, August 2018, p. 6 , accessed on October 10, 2018 .
- ↑ Added to this are the internationally unrecognized claims in the Antarctic with 1,250,000.0.
- ↑ Article 116 of the Constitution
- ↑ Results of the 2012 census, accessed on March 5, 2014 ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Province of Marga Marga was formed by Law No. 20.368 of July 14, 2009 with effect from March 11, 2010 from the municipalities of Limache and Olmué (previously Province of Quillota) and Quilpué and Villa Alemana (previously Province of Valparaíso).
- ↑ Including the internationally not recognized territorial claims of Chile in the Antarctic with 1,250,000 km² and 130 inhabitants (2002) and 115 inhabitants (2012).
- ↑ Compilation based on: Instituto, Nacional de Estadísticas, Divisíon Politico-Administrativa y Censal, 2007, Santiago 2008
- ↑ Art. 118 para. 1 of the Constitution
- ↑ Art. 119 Para. 1 of the Constitution
Web links
Constitution of the Republic of Chile from 1980