France is divided into 26 régions: 21 of these are in the continental part of The term Metropolitan France (French: la France métropolitaine, or just la Métropole) refers to the part of France in Europe, including Corsica, as opposed to the overseas departments and overseas territories, which, while integral parts of the French Republic, are regarded as Overseas France (French: la France d... metropolitan France, one is Région Corse Coat of arms of Corsica Information Capital: Ajaccio Population  - Total  - Density 260,196 (1999 census) 272,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 30 /km² Area 8 680 km² Arrondissements 5 Cantons 52 Communes 360 President of the regional council Camille de Rocca-Serra Départements... Corse on the island of Région Corse Coat of arms of Corsica Information Capital: Ajaccio Population  - Total  - Density 260,196 (1999 census) 272,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 30 /km² Area 8 680 km² Arrondissements 5 Cantons 52 Communes 360 President of the regional council Camille de Rocca-Serra Départements... Corsica (although strictly speaking Corse is in fact a "territorial collectivity", not a région, but is referred to as a région in common speech), 4 are overseas. Régions are further subdivided into départements.

Role

Régions do not have legislative autonomy, nor can they issue regulations. They do levy taxes (or, rather, the national government gives them a portion of the taxes it levies) and have sizeable, though not considerable budgets.

Their main legal attribution is to build and pay equipment costs for high schools; in March 2004, the French national government announced a controversial plan to transfer to the régions some categories of non-teaching school personnel. Critics of this plan contend that it is doubtful than sufficient fiscal resources for these additional charges will be transferred, and that such measures will increase inequalities between régions.

Apart from these legal attributions, régions have considerable discretionary spending for infrastructure (education, public transportation systems, aid to universities and research, support for An entrepreneur is, in its most general sense, a person who creates or starts a new project, opportunity, or venture. Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who establishes a new entity to offer a new or existing product or service into a new or existing market, whether for... entrepreneurs). Because of this, being president of a wealthy région such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes may be quite a high profile position.

There are, from time to time, discussions about giving limited legislative autonomy to the régions, but such proposals are controversial. There are also proposals to suppress the local governments of the départements and to folding them into the régions, keeping the départements only as administrative subdivisions.

List

Région Alsace (In Detail) (In Detail) Information Capital: Strasbourg Population  - Total  - Density 1,734,145 (1999 census) 1,793,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 209/km² Area 8,280 km² Arrondissements 13 Cantons 75 Communes 903 President of the regional council Adrien Zeller (UMP) Départements Bas... Alsace Région Aquitaine Details Information Capital: Bordeaux Population  - Total  - Density 2,908,359 (1999 census) 3,049,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 70 /km² Area 41 308 km² Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2 296 President of the regional council Alain Rousset Départements Dordogne (24) Gironde (33... Aquitaine Auvergne Région Basse-Normandie Missing image Blason_Basse-Normandie_petit.jpg Coat of Arms of Basse-Normandie Details Information Capital: Caen Population  - Total  - Density 1,422,193 (1999 census) 1,443,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 81 /km² Area 17 589 km² Arrondissements 11 Cantons 141 Communes 1 ... Basse-Normandie This page is about the region of France. For information on the wine, see French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts, Gauls, Romans and Gallo-Romans, and various Germanic peoples, most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. Burgundy was a province of France until... Bourgogne Région Bretagne Details Information Capital: Rennes Population  - Total  - Density 2,906,197(1999 census) 3,011,000(1.1.2004 estimates) 107 /km² Area 27 208 km² Arrondissements 15 Cantons 201 Communes 1 268 President of the regional council Jean-Yves Le Drian Départements... Bretagne Région Centre Missing image Blason_Centre_petit.jpg Blason du Centre Détails Information Capital: Orléans Population  - Total  - Density 2,440,329 (1999 census) 2,480,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 62 /km² Area 39 151 km² Arrondissements 20 Cantons 198 Communes 1 842 President of... Centre Région Champagne-Ardenne France Information Capital: Châlons-en-Champagne Population  - Total  - Density 1,342,363 (1999) 52/km² Area 25,606 km² Arrondissements 15 Cantons 146 Communes 1,947 President of the regional council Jean-Paul Bachy Départements Aube (10) Ardennes (08) Haute-Marne (52... Champagne-Ardenne Région Corse Coat of arms of Corsica Information Capital: Ajaccio Population  - Total  - Density 260,196 (1999 census) 272,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 30 /km² Area 8 680 km² Arrondissements 5 Cantons 52 Communes 360 President of the regional council Camille de Rocca-Serra Départements... Corse (special status) Franche-Comté Région Haute-Normandie Missing image Blason_Haute-Normandie_petit.jpg Blason de la Haute-Normandie Détails Information Capital: Rouen Population  - Total  - Density 1 780 192 (1999) 145 /km² Area 12 317 km² Arrondissements 6 Cantons 112 Communes 1 420 President of the regional council Alain Le... Haute-Normandie

Île-de-France Région Languedoc-Roussillon Missing image Blason_Languedoc-Roussillon_petit.jpg Blason du Languedoc-Roussillon Détails Information Capital: Montpellier Population  - Total  - Density 2,295,648 (1999 census) 2,458,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 84 /km² Area 27 376 km² Arrondissements 14 Cantons 186 Communes 1 545... Languedoc-Roussillon Région Limousin Missing image Blason_Limousin_petit.jpg Blason du Limousin Détails Information Capital: Limoges Population  - Total  - Density 710 939 (1999) 42 /km² Area 16 942 km² Arrondissements 8 Cantons 106 Communes 747 President of the regional council Jean-Paul Denanot Départements Categories: Regions of France... Limousin Lorraine Region Details Information Capital Metz Population  - Total (1999)  - Density 2,310,376 98 /km² Area 23,547 km² Arrondissements 19 Cantons 157 Communes 2,337 President of the regional council Jean-Pierre Masseret Départements Meurthe-et-Moselle (54) Meuse (55) Moselle (57) Vosges (88) Location Lorraine... Lorraine Midi-Pyrénées Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Missing image Blason_XXX_petit.jpg Blason du Nord-Pas-de-Calais Détails Information Capital: Lille Population  - Total  - Density 3,996,588 (1999 census) 4,026,000 (1.1.2004 estimates) 322 /km² Area 12 414 km² Arrondissements 13 Cantons 156 Communes... Nord-Pas-de-Calais R gion Pays-de-la-Loire Information Capital: Nantes Population  - Total  - Density 3 222 061 (1999) 100 /km Area 32 082 km Arrondissements 17 Cantons 203 Communes 1 502 President of the regional council Jacques Auxiette D partements Categories: Regions of France | Stub ... Pays de la Loire Région Picardie Details Information Capital: Amiens Population  - Total  - Density 1,857,481 (1999) 96/km² Area 19,399 km² Arrondissements 13 Cantons 129 Communes 2,292 President of the Regional Council Claude Gewerc Départements Regions of France Alsace | Aquitaine | Auvergne | Lower Normandy | Burgundy | Brittany | Centre | Champagne... Picardie Région Poitou-Charentes Missing image Blason_Poitou-Charentes_petit.jpg Blason du Poitou-Charentes Détails Information Capital: Poitiers Population  - Total  - Density 1 640 068 (1999) 64 /km² Area 25 810 km² Arrondissements 14 Cantons 157 Communes 1 464 President of the regional council Ségolène... Poitou-Charentes Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur Rhône-Alpes

• Régions which are also départements d'outre-mer (DOM)
  (Overseas departments), each of them consisting of a single département coterminous with a région:
  • 971 Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean Sea, is an archipelago with a total area of 1,704 km² located in the Eastern Caribbean. Administratively speaking, Guadeloupe is an overseas département (département doutre-mer, or DOM) of France. As the other DOMs, Guadeloupe is also a région of France... Guadeloupe
  • 972 The département of Martinique is an overseas département (département doutre-mer, or DOM) of France, located in the Caribbean Sea. The capital is Fort-de-France. Population at the 1999 census: 381,427 inhabitants. Population as of 1.1.2004 estimates: 393,000 inhabitants. It has... Martinique
  • 973 French Guiana (French: Guyane) is an overseas département (département doutre-mer, or DOM) of France, located on the Caribbean coast of South America. Guyane Region Guyane Official language French Political status Non-sovereign, overseas department of France Department Number 973 Préfecture Cayenne Sous-préfecture Saint... French Guiana
  • 974 Réunion

See also

• This article is part of the series: Administrative divisions of France Regional level Régions Régions doutre-mer Departmental level Départements Départements doutre-mer Arrondissement level Arrondissements Cantonal level Cantons Communal level Communes Communautés urbaines Communautés dagglomération Communautés de communes... Administrative divisions of France
• The following are ranked lists of French régions. Population figures are from the 1999 census. By population Rank Region Population % Density 1 ÃŽle-de-France (12) 10,952,011 18.1% 911.8 2 Rhône-Alpes (22) 5,645,407 9.4% 129.2 3 Provence-Alpes-C... Ranked list of French régions
• List of capitals of subnational entities covers currently the following national entities: #A-C: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Peoples Republic of China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, #D-F: Denmark, Finland, France, #G-L: Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Ireland, Japan... List of capitals of subnational entities
• Regional elections were held in France on March 21 and March 28, 2004. At stake were the presidencies of each of Frances 22 régions, which, though they dont have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets. The results were a triumph for the parties of the left, led by... French regional elections, 2004