Home > Commune in France
The commune is an administrative division of France.
1 Administration
A communes is governed by a municipal council and a mayor (maire). The seat of the council is the hôtel de ville or mairie ( French terms for City Hall).
2 Number and location
As of January 1, 2004, there is a total of 36,782 communes in France:
- Metropolitan (i.e. European) France is divided into 36,568 communes
- The 4 départements d'outre-mer ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion) are divided into 114 communes.
- Collectivités d'outre-mer :
- New CaledoniaNew Caledonia ( French: Nouvelle-Caledonie is a territory of 18,575 km² (7,172 sq. miles) made up of a main island and several smaller islands, in the southwest Pacific. Population in 2004 is in between 250,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. Name The name deriv, a collectivité sui generis is divided into 33 communes
- French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is a French overseas "country" ( French: pays d'outre-mer or POM in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the mos, a pays d'outre-mer is divided into 48 communes
- The French Southern and Antarctic Lands, a territoire d'outre-merA Territoire d'outre-mer TOM French for "Overseas territory") is an administrative divisions of France. The term is currently only applied to the French Southern Territories. Former territoires d'outre-mer French Polynesia, from 1946 to 2003, now a pays d with no permanent population has no commune.
3 Classification
INSEEINSEE is the French abbreviation for the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (French: I nstitut N ational de la S tatistique et des tudes conomiques . It collects and publishes information on the French economy and French society codes: INSEE gives numerical indexing codes to various entities in France, notably the communes (they do not coincide with postcodeAustralian postcodes are covered in the article List of postal codes in Australia. UK postal codes are known as postcodes . They are alphanumeric. These codes introduced by the Post Office over a fifteen year period have been widely adopted by the UK publs). The 'complete' code has 8 digits and 3 spaces within, but there is a popular 'simplified' code with 5 digits and no space within :
- 2 digits ( départementThe departements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties and are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas regions''. They are subdivided into 342 arrondissements''. Departements are also found i) and 3 digits (commune) for the 96 départements of France 'métropolitaine'
- 3 digits (département or collectivity) and 2 digits (commune) for the Overseas departments, Overseas Territorial Collectivities and Overseas Countries and Territories . See also : .
