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The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to English counties. The 100 French départements are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas régions. They are subdivided into 342 arrondissements. General characteristics In continental France (metropolitan France excluding Corsica), the median land area of a département is 5,965 km² (2,303 square miles), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of a ceremonial county of England, and a little more than three-and-half times the median land area of a U.S. county. At the 1999 census, the median population of a département in continental France was 511,012 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a U.S. county, but just a little less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England. Administrative role Each department is administered by a Conseil Général elected for six years, and its executive is, since 1982, headed by the president of that council (formerly it was headed by the préfet). The French national government is represented in the département by a préfet appointed by the national executive. The préfet is assisted by one or more sous-préfets based in district centres outside the departmental capital. The capital city of a département bears the title of préfecture. Départements are divided into one to seven arrondissements. The capital city of an arrondissement is called the sous-préfecture. The civil servant in charge is the sous-préfet. The départements sub-divide into communes, governed by municipal councils. France (as of 1999) had 36,779 communes. Most of the départements have an area of around 4,000–8,000 km² and a population between 250,000 and a million. The largest in terms of area is Gironde (10,000 km²) and the smallest the city of Paris (105 km² excluding the suburbs, now organised in adjacent départements). The most populous is Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous Lozère (74,000). See also: List of French départements by population The départements are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes, in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on car number-plates, though this last usage will mostly disappear with a new car plate scheme due for 2006. Note that there is no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead. Note also that the two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco. Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR the numbers form the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code. History
French régions and départements Notes: On the current territory of France Name changes A few départements have changed names, in most cases, to lose the terms "lower" and "inferior": Before 1957 1957–1962 In the former colonies of France First French Empire|Napoleonic Empire There are a number of former départements on territories conquered by France during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France: See also: The 130 départements of the Napoleonic Empire | |||||||||
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