Region (France)
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The region is an administrative division of France administrative division of France The country is divided into 26 regions. Twenty-one (21) of these are located in Metropolitan France. Four are in the country's territories outside the metropolitan area. The other one in Corsica is also in the metropolitan area, but technically it is not a region but a "collective territory". However to the common man Corsica is recognized as a region, and in this article it is counted as one of the regions of France.
The regions of metropolitan France are divided into 2 to 8 departments France departments while those abroad have one department each.
General characteristics
In continental France (metropolitan France except Corsica) the average land area of a region is 25,809 km² (9,965 square miles), which is one fifth (1/5) of the average land area of a state in the United States, but 28% larger than the average land area in a German state and 67% larger than the average land area in an English region.
In 2004, the median population of a region in continental France was 2,329,000, more than half the median population of a U.S. state, three-fourths (3/4) of the median population of a state in Germany, and almost half the average population of a region in England.
The central region of continental France is divided into four departments.
Role
The regions do not have legislative autonomy, nor can they issue regulations. But they collect the tax and receive a small portion of it from the national government. They also have a large budget that is administered by the regional assembly. The regional assembly is composed of representatives from the departments and the major communes.
Their legal job is to build schools and pay for their equipment. In March 2004, the French national government proposed to transfer some classes of non-teaching school employees to the regions. The critics of that plan said that it is doubtful if there is enough money to be transferred by the national government to the regions for the salaries of those employees.
Apart from this legal attribution, the regions also have a role in deciding how to spend money for infrastructure. Because of this, being the president of a rich region like Île-de-France or maybe Rhône-Alpes can be a high profile position.
List of regions
Metropolitan regions
Overseas regions
These regions are also departments at the same time.
23 Guadeloupe
24 Martinique
25 Guyana
26 Reunion
See also
Division of management in France
Flags of the regions of France
List of regions and departments of France
List of names of French regions in four languages
External links
(French) Local websites by region Archived 2007-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
