Regions of France

Legal Status and Constitutional Framework

In the French administrative system, a region is both a territorial collectivity (collectivité territoriale), which is a legal person under public law distinct from the state, and an administrative district (circonscription administrative) for the deconcentrated services of the central state..^[1][2] Although regions hold constitutional status alongside departments and communes under Article 72 of the Constitution, France remains a unitary state.^[3][4] Consequently, regional authorities lack autonomous legislative power, cannot write statutory law, and operate within a framework of assigned regulatory power (pouvoir réglementaire) strictly determined by national legislation.^[3][4][5]

The existence of regions as territorial collectivities dates from the Decentralisation Law of 2 March 1982, although constitutional entrenchment was only enacted during the constitutional revision of 28 March 2003.^[3][6] Under French constitutional jurisprudence, territorial collectivities do not stand in a vertical hierarchical relationship with one another.^[7] Regional councils exercise no administrative tutelage or supervisory authority over the departmental councils (conseils départementaux) or municipal councils (conseils municipaux) located within their territorial perimeter.^[7][8] Instead, all tiers of local government derive their authority directly from national law and exercise separate, specific competencies.^[7]

The institutional configuration of French regions is not uniform.^[9] Of the eighteen administrative regions, fourteen operate as standard regional collectivities, while four possess special status as single territorial collectivities (collectivités territoriales uniques) exercising the merged competencies of both a region and a department.^[10] These exceptions include Corsica in metropolitan Europe, as well as Mayotte, French Guiana, and Martinique overseas.^[6][10] In terms of geographic scale, metropolitan French regions are comparable in land area and population to the states (Länder) of Germany, though without the sovereign statehood, separate judicial branches, or constituent constitutional autonomy characteristic of federal systems.^[3]

Political and Administrative Institutions

As a territorial collectivity, a French region has three organs: an elected deliberative regional council, the council's president as executive, and a consultative economic, social and environmental council whose members are appointed..^[1][9][11] Deliberative authority is vested in an elected regional council (conseil régional), while a non-elected regional economic, social and environmental council (conseil économique, social et environnemental régional, or CESER) serves as an institutional consultative assembly representing local civil society.^[11][12] Executive power is held by the president of the regional council, who directs the regional civil service and manages the regional administration under the post facto legal supervision (contrôle de légalité) exercised by the regional prefect.^[1][11]

Regional Councils and Electoral System

The regional council is the deliberative assembly of the region, directly elected by universal suffrage for a six-year renewable mandate in accordance with Article L. 4131-1 of the General Code of Territorial Collectivities.^[13] Regional councillors were originally elected under a system of department-level proportional representation established in 1985 and applied during the 1986, 1992, and 1998 elections.^[14] The law of 19 January 1999 made regions the primary electoral constituency, while retaining departmental candidate sections.^[15] A major electoral overhaul enacted by the law of 11 April 2003 instituted a two-round proportional list system with a majority bonus (prime majoritaire), first implemented during the regional elections of March 2004.^[14][16]

Under the voting system introduced in 2003, each candidate list submitted at the regional level is broken down into departmental sections, with strict alternation between male and female candidates to ensure full gender parity across every section and every round of voting.^[14][17] If a list secures an absolute majority of cast votes in the first round, it is immediately awarded a majority bonus equal to 25 percent of the total seats in the council, with the remaining 75 percent distributed proportionally among all lists obtaining at least 5 percent of the vote.^[16] If no list attains an absolute majority, a runoff round is held.^[16] Only lists securing at least 10 percent of first-round votes may advance to the second round, while lists winning between 5 and 10 percent are permitted to merge with qualifying lists.^[16] In the second round, the list winning a plurality receives the 25 percent seat bonus, and the remaining seats are allocated proportionally among all lists exceeding the 5 percent threshold.^[16]

Because of statutory parity mandates, French regional councils have become the most gender-balanced elected assemblies in the country.^[17] Following the 2004 regional elections, women made up 51.2 percent of the council in Martinique, 50.6 percent in Brittany, and 46.5 percent in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, with Poitou-Charentes having the lowest female representation at 43.6 percent.^[17] The statutory size of each regional council is codified in Table 7 annexed to Article L. 337 of the French Electoral Code.^[18] Prior to the 2016 consolidation, Franche-Comté had the smallest council with 43 seats, whereas Île-de-France had the largest with 209 councillors.^[19] Across all standard regions as of 1 January 2014, there were 1,829 elected regional councillors.^[17] The territorial reform laws initially sought to reduce total regional councillor numbers by 15 percent with a statutory ceiling of 150 members per council, but Parliament removed this ceiling, preserving the existing overall number of councillors distributed across the enlarged regional bodies.^[20]

Regional councils meet in plenary session at least once per trimester.^[16] Between these full sessions, everyday governance and delegated legislative functions are managed by a standing committee (commission permanente), consisting of the council president, vice presidents, and selected councillors.^[16] The full council is legally barred from delegating the adoption of the annual regional budget or the formal approval of administrative financial accounts to the standing committee.^[16]

Regional Executive

Executive leadership of the regional collectivity belongs to the president of the regional council (président du conseil régional).^[9][21] The president is elected by the members of the regional council during its constitutive session following each general renewal.^[21] Election requires an absolute majority of council members across the first two ballots; if no candidate attains an absolute majority, a third ballot is conducted where a relative majority is sufficient.^[16][21] In the event of a tie in the third ballot, the oldest candidate is declared elected.^[21]

To be valid, the constitutive election session requires a quorum of at least two-thirds of the sitting councillors.^[21] If the quorum is not met, the council must be reconvened three days later, at which point proceedings may occur without any quorum requirement.^[21] In addition, candidates for the presidency are legally required under Article L. 4133-1 of the General Code of Territorial Collectivities to submit a written program declaration to all council members prior to each ballot, outlining their strategic political, social, and economic priorities for their six-year mandate.^[21] Once in office, the president acts as chief executive, directing regional administrative departments, authorising expenditures, preparing and executing council deliberations, managing public contracts, and representing the collectivity in legal proceedings.^[22]

Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council

Each regional collectivity includes an institutional consultative organ designated as the Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council (conseil économique, social et environnemental régional, or CESER).^[1][19] Members of the CESER are not elected by universal suffrage; they are appointed for six-year terms by order of the regional prefect.^[23]

The CESER serves an advisory function intended to reflect the organized socio-economic fabric of the territory.^[19] Regional councils are legally required to solicit the formal opinion of the CESER on all major planning documents, including draft State-Region Project Contracts (contrats de plan État-région), annual regional budgets, supplementary budgetary decisions, administrative accounts, and long-term sector master plans for vocational training, spatial planning, and climate adaptation.^[19][23] The CESER is also empowered to issue self-initiated referrals on any economic, ecological, or social matter falling within regional competence.^[23] Opinions issued by the CESER are purely consultative and are not legally binding on regional councillors.^[19][23]

State Administration and the Regional Prefect

Alongside its role as a decentralized collectivity, the region is a territorial administrative constituency (circonscription administrative) of the French central state.^[2] The regional tier forms the primary level of general deconcentrated state administration under Decree No. 92-604 of 1 July 1992, ranking above departments and arrondissements.^[2][24] The senior representative of the central government within the region is the regional prefect (préfet de région), appointed by the President of the Republic in the Council of Ministers.^[25] The office of regional prefect is held in personal union by the prefect of the department in which the administrative capital (chef-lieu) of the region is situated.^[25]

The regional prefect directs the decentralized state services, coordinates national and European policies regarding spatial planning, rural renewal, urban cohesion, and economic development, and acts as the official state signatory in negotiating and implementing multiannual State-Region Project Contracts.^[25][26] On most policy matters, the regional prefect exercises administrative authority over the departmental prefects within the region, ensuring unified state action across departmental boundaries.^[25][27] However, the regional prefect does not possess line-command authority over departmental prefects in matters of public security policing, the administration of immigration and aliens, or the constitutional review of departmental local authority acts.^[25]

Deconcentrated State Services

State civil administration at the regional level is organized around eight core directorates and agencies, which operate under the direct oversight of the regional prefect, subject to functional reporting lines to their respective national ministries:^[25][26][28]

1. The Regional Directorate for Food, Agriculture, and Forest (Direction régionale de l'Alimentation, de l'Agriculture et de la Forêt, or DRAAF), formed through the merger of the former regional agricultural and veterinary services.^[29][30] 2. The Regional Directorate for Environment, Planning, and Housing (Direction régionale de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement, or DREAL), uniting previous regional services for public works, environmental protection, and industrial oversight.^[31] 3. The Regional Directorate for Enterprises, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labour, and Employment (Direction régionale des entreprises, de la concurrence, de la consommation, du travail et de l'emploi, or DIRECCTE), uniting ministerial departments for labor inspection, economic regulation, and enterprise competitiveness.^[32] 4. The Regional Directorate for Youth, Sports, and Social Cohesion (Direction régionale de la Jeunesse, des Sports et de la Cohésion sociale, or DRJSCS), combining youth affairs, sports regulation, and sanitary-social integration.^[33] 5. The Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs (Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles, or DRAC), responsible for historic heritage preservation, architectural supervision, archaeological research, and cultural institution subsidies.^[34] 6. The Regional Directorate of Public Finances (Direction régionale des Finances publiques, or DRFiP), exercising state financial control, public accounting, and public investment audits.^[35] 7. The Regional Health Agency (Agence régionale de santé, or ARS), an autonomous public body integrating public health programs, regional healthcare organisation, hospital planning, and outpatient regulation.^[36][37] 8. The Academic Rectorate (Rectorat d'académie), which supervises national primary, secondary, and higher education policy under the authority of an appointed rector, operating independently of the general prefecture hierarchy.^[25]

In addition to these eight administrative bodies, maritime coordination is organized across wider geographic coastal basins through four Interregional Directorates of the Sea (Directions interrégionales de la Mer, or DIRM), established in 2010 to oversee maritime signalling, fisheries regulation, and marine pollution response systems such as POLMAR.^[38] French regions also participate in broader international networks, including the International Association of Francophone Regions (Association internationale des régions francophones, or AIRF).^[39]

Powers and Responsibilities

The statutory responsibilities of French regions have expanded substantially since the decentralisation law of 1982.^[40][41] Regional authorities direct structural public investment, vocational training programs, passenger transport logistics, and territorial economic development strategies.^[40][42]

The General Competence Clause

Under the Decentralisation Law of 2 March 1982, French regions were initially granted a general competence clause (clause générale de compétence), which provided that the regional council governs the affairs of the region through its deliberations.^[43] This legal clause permitted regional authorities to initiate programs and allocate funding across any policy area presenting a sufficient public interest at the regional scale, provided they did not infringe on competencies exclusively reserved for the central state or other subnational tiers.^[11][44]

The scope of the general competence clause became a subject of protracted political and legal contention regarding administrative overlaps, cross-financing, and institutional complexity, often referred to in domestic debate as the administrative mille-feuille.^[45] Article 73 of the Local Authorities Reform Law of 16 December 2010 repealed the general competence clause for regions and departments with effect from 1 January 2015, replacing it with strictly enumerated powers.^[46] Although Article 1 of the MAPTAM law of 27 January 2014 temporarily reinstated the general clause, it was definitively abolished for regions and departments by the Law on the New Territorial Organisation of the Republic (Loi portant nouvelle organisation territoriale de la République, known as the NOTRe law) of 7 August 2015.^[47] Since 2015, regions have operated strictly on the basis of attributed statutory competencies (compétences d'attribution) and designated coordinating functions.^[48]

Statutory and Assigned Powers

The primary statutory responsibility of French regions in secondary education is the construction, structural maintenance, extension, and modern equipment of public upper-secondary schools (lycées), general high schools, agricultural schools, and specialized vocational establishments.^[11] Departmental councils retain equivalent responsibilities for lower-secondary schools (collèges), while municipal communes maintain primary schools (écoles).^[49]

In public transportation, regions function as the transport organizing authorities (autorités organisatrices des transports) for regional passenger networks, universally marketed under the brand TER (Transport express régional).^[42][50] Following a successful pilot program launched in 1997, the Solidarité et renouvellement urbains (SRU) law of 13 December 2000 transferred full responsibility for organizing and funding regional passenger rail and replacement coach services to the regions effective 1 January 2002.^[36][51] Working via multiannual operating conventions with the national rail operator SNCF and the railway network manager Réseau ferré de France (RFF), regions determine routes, timetables, rolling stock investment, and regional fare structures.^[50][51] By 2007, regionalized TER services accounted for more than 14 percent of total passenger rail traffic in France.^[50] Under the NOTRe law, regional transport authority was further expanded on 1 January 2017 to incorporate non-urban intercity coach lines and rural school transport networks formerly run by the departments, as well as passenger rail station facilities.^[42][49]

Regions also hold leading statutory authority over economic development, corporate assistance, and innovation.^[40][42] Under the NOTRe law, each regional council formulates and adopts a legally binding Regional Scheme for Economic Development, Innovation, and Internationalisation (Schéma régional de développement économique, d'innovation et d'internationalisation, or SRDEII).^[42] The region controls direct and indirect financial subsidies, loan guarantees, and venture grants to commercial businesses, small and medium enterprises, and start-up initiatives within its borders.^[42] In vocational training and apprenticeships, the Law of 13 August 2004 established the region as the statutory coordinator of public access to apprenticeship centers, adult retraining programs, and youth employment support structures, including local career insertion missions (missions locales) and orientation networks.^[40][41][42] Additionally, regions manage public river ports, regional commercial aerodromes, and state-transferred regional sports performance and training centers (Centres de ressources, d'expertise et de performance sportive, or CREPS).^[49]

Shared Powers and Lead Authority Role

Despite successive legislative attempts to delineate public competencies into isolated functional blocks, many domains remain shared between regions, departments, and municipalities.^[8][52] Shared competencies are particularly prevalent in cultural heritage, museum funding, preventative archaeology, sport, tourism, and environmental protection.^[49][52] To eliminate overlapping initiatives and clarify inter-tier management, the reform laws of 2010 and the MAPTAM law of 27 January 2014 established the statutory principle of the lead authority (chef de file).^[45][48]

Under this framework, regional councils act as statutory lead authorities across five designated policy sectors: 1.^[48] Territorial planning and sustainable development, through the Regional Scheme for Spatial Planning, Sustainable Development, and Territorial Equality (schéma régional d'aménagement, du développement durable et de l'égalité des territoires, or SRADDT). 2. Biodiversity conservation, managed through the Regional Ecological Coherence Scheme (Schéma régional de cohérence écologique, or SRCE). 3. Climate, air quality, and energy, through the Regional Climate, Air, and Energy Scheme (Schéma régional du climat, de l'air et de l'énergie, or SRCAE). 4. Intermodality and complementarity between modes of transport, for example through the development of stations. 5. Support for higher education and research, through the regional scheme for higher education, research, and innovation.

Special Powers of Île-de-France

Because of its size and population, which in the legislator's view justified granting it specific powers, the Île-de-France region is governed by a reinforced legal framework.^[53] While its elected political organs match those of other metropolitan regions, Île-de-France possesses enhanced statutory competencies regarding regional public facilities, regional master spatial planning (Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France, or SDRIF), green belts, and open-space preservation.^[53][54] Public passenger transportation across the capital basin is not integrated into the standard TER framework; instead, it is organized under a specialized dedicated authority, Île-de-France Mobilités (formerly STIF), which coordinates the RATP metro and bus networks, regional Transilien rail lines, and commuter transit investments.^[55]

Financial Resources and Budgets

In accordance with the constitutional principle of administrative self-governance, French regions possess financial autonomy and adopt independent annual budgets voted by the regional councils.^[56][57] Regional revenues consist of two principal components: central government financial transfers and endowments (dotations de l'État), which compensate regions for devolved responsibilities, and direct fiscal revenues generated from assigned taxes.^[56][57][58]

Despite the scope of their strategic planning responsibilities, the direct operating budgets of regions are modest compared to other administrative levels.^[59] In 2012, total regional budgets across France amounted to 27.9 billion euros, representing approximately 12 percent of total local authority expenditure.^[59] In comparison, departmental councils managed 71.0 billion euros, primarily absorbed by mandatory social welfare entitlements such as the active solidarity income (RSA) and elderly assistance (APA), while the communal and intercommunal municipal tier controlled 126.6 billion euros.^[49][59] The largest single budgetary outlay for most regions remains transportation infrastructure and passenger rail operations, followed closely by secondary school construction and technical maintenance.^[16][49]

Special Status and Overseas Collectivities

While standard metropolitan regions follow a uniform administrative blueprint, historical, geographical, and demographic factors have led to distinctive institutional designs in Corsica and across overseas France.^[6][10]

Corsica

Corsica occupied a unique position within the French administrative hierarchy for several decades before being organized under its current institutional structure.^[60][61] Corsica is a territorial collectivity with special status (collectivité à statut particulier)..^[9][60] This statute replaced the conventional regional council with a parliamentary-style system composed of three dedicated bodies: the Corsican Assembly (Assemblée de Corse), a deliberative legislature of 51 members (later expanded) elected by proportional representation; the Executive Council of Corsica (Conseil exécutif de Corse), composed of a president and eight executive councillors who direct the administration and operate as a collegiate regional government; and the Economic, Social, Environmental and Cultural Council of Corsica (CESECC).^[60][62][63]

On 1 January 2018, following legislation enacted in 2015, Corsica underwent further administrative consolidation by becoming a single territorial collectivity (Collectivité de Corse).^[61] The reform abolished the departmental councils of Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse, merging their departmental responsibilities directly into the island-wide Assembly and Executive Council.^[61] Although Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse remain administrative circumscriptions of the central state for prefectural policing and judicial functions, Corsica operates with consolidated local powers over the preservation of the Corsican language, historic cultural heritage, regional transport links, housing, and island spatial planning.^[61][64]

Single Territorial Collectivities: Mayotte, French Guiana, and Martinique

Three overseas regions have abolished separate departmental and regional councils, operating instead as single territorial collectivities (collectivités territoriales uniques).^[6][9][10] Mayotte held a popular referendum on 29 March 2009 in which voters approved accession to full overseas departmental and regional status.^[65] In March 2011, Mayotte formally became a single territorial collectivity, legally designated as the Department of Mayotte (Département de Mayotte) due to historical local attachment to the departmental title, while exercising both departmental and regional powers through its Departmental Council.^{[66][67][68][69]}

In the Americas, the populations of French Guiana and Martinique voted in referendums on 24 January 2010 to consolidate their departmental and regional institutions into single governing entities.^[70] This transition was formally codified by Law No. 2011-884 of 27 July 2011 and came into legal effect on 1 January 2016.^[9][70] In French Guiana, a single assembly exercises both departmental and regional powers..^[9][70] In Martinique, the single collectivity is administered by a 51-member Assembly of Martinique alongside a separate Executive Council headed by the President of the Executive Council, mirroring the executive structure of Corsica.^[6]

Overseas Regions and Departments

Guadeloupe in the Caribbean and Réunion in the Indian Ocean retain a dual institutional structure.^[71] In both territories, a regional council and a departmental council co-exist across the exact same geographic boundary, with each body exercising its respective statutory powers.^[71] The four original overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Réunion) were established on 19 March 1946 and obtained regional status under the 1982 decentralisation laws.^[72] The formal designation of overseas region (région d'outre-mer) was officially incorporated into Article 73 of the Constitution by the revision of 28 March 2003.^[6]

In the overseas regions, the regional council must be consulted on draft laws, ordinances and decrees that contain provisions adapting the legislative regime and administrative organisation of the region..^[73] They possess specialized consultative bodies, notably the Council of Culture, Education, and the Environment (Conseil de la culture, de l'éducation et de l'environnement, or CCEE), and are empowered to establish public regional development agencies.^[19][74] All five overseas regions form integral parts of the French Republic and the European Union, where they hold outermost region (OMR) status under EU law, entitling them to specific developmental, agricultural, and customs adjustments.^[6]

Historical Evolution

The establishment of regions as modern administrative entities represents the culmination of a two-century institutional tension in French political history between the centralized administrative apparatus created by the Revolution of 1789 and enduring regional cultural, geographical, and economic realities.^[75][76]

Ancien Régime and Revolutionary Departmentalisation

Prior to the French Revolution, the Kingdom of France was divided into historical provinces (provinces) originating from feudal history, aristocratic fiefdoms, and territorial accessions.^[75][76] Some of these historic provinces corresponded approximately in size to present-day regions. In 1789, the National Constituent Assembly abolished the provinces, their aristocratic estates, and their customary judicial privileges.^[75][76] By the laws of 15 January and 16 February 1790, the French territory was divided into 83 uniformly organized departments.^[75][76]

The departments were drawn under the influence of Honoré Gabriel Riqueti de Mirabeau, taking local particularities into account. Regional identity was not taken into account, for fear of reviving the pays d'État and pays d'Élections of the Ancien Régime.^[75] Under the post-revolutionary state, central authority was preserved, an administrative reality noted in 1851 by political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville in L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution: across the chasm of the Revolution, the prefect and the intendant clasp hands.^[75]

Nineteenth-Century Regionalism and Early Proposals

Regionalist advocacy reemerged in the late nineteenth century, driven by literary, linguistic, and conservative revivals.^[77][78] In southern France, writer Frédéric Mistral and the Félibrige movement championed the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Occitan language.^[77][78][79] Although supported by diverse political figures including moderate socialists like Jean Jaurès and supporters of the 1907 Languedoc winegrowers' revolt, nineteenth-century regionalism was largely dominated by monarchist and counter-revolutionary currents.^[77][78] Political scientist Daniel Seiler observed that once national sovereignty was transferred to Parliament and the central nation-state, the periphery felt its cultural difference and clung to the anterior order.^[77][78] These regionalist traditions later formed the ideological foundation for royalist author Charles Maurras and the Action française movement, which advocated regional decentralisation as part of a national restoration.^[80]

Concurrently, French academic geographers began advocating functional groupings of departments to reflect physical geography and urban connectivity.^[81] In 1891, geographer Pierre Foncin published a schema dividing France into thirteen geographical groupings (treize ensembles) that respected departmental boundaries:^[81]

1. Northern Plains (Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme). 2. Plains of Paris and Champagne (Oise, Aisne, Marne, Haute-Marne, Aube, Yonne, Seine-et-Marne, Seine, Seine-et-Oise, Eure-et-Loir). 3. Lorraine Plateau (Ardennes, Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Vosges). 4. Plains and Hills of Normandy (Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Calvados, Manche, Orne). 5. Brittany, Vendée, and Poitou (Loire-Inférieure, Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Vendée, Vienne, Deux-Sèvres). 6. Plains of the Loire (Mayenne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Cher, Indre, Nièvre). 7. Massif Central (Allier, Creuse, Haute-Vienne, Dordogne, Lot, Tarn, Aveyron, Lozère, Haute-Loire, Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Corrèze, Cantal). 8. Plains of the Southwest (Charente-Inférieure, Charente, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Gers, Landes). 9. Pyrenees (Basses-Pyrénées, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Orientales, Haute-Garonne, Ariège, Aude). 10. Jura and Saône (Belfort, Haute-Saône, Doubs, Jura, Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Ain). 11. Alps (Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Hautes-Alpes, Basses-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Corse). 12. Plain of Languedoc (Rhône, Isère, Ardèche, Drôme, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Hérault). 13. Alsace-Lorraine, which was under German administration at the time, was classified separately as an exceptional ensemble.^[81]

Geographer Paul Vidal de La Blache put forward his own proposal in 1903.^[81]

Clémentel Regions and Interwar Initiatives

The first practical administrative application of regional groupings occurred during the First World War.^[82] Following an administrative circular of 25 August 1917 inspired by the work of Vidal de La Blache, Minister of Commerce and Industry Étienne Clémentel issued a ministerial order on 5 April 1919 establishing regional economic groupings known as Clémentel regions (régions Clémentel).^[82][83] These economic regions grouped chambers of commerce on a voluntary basis across metropolitan France.^[82] Initially planned as 17 regions, their number was expanded to 21, each governed by a regional committee comprising two delegates per chamber alongside consulting prefects. The groupings varied; for example, in 1917 the economic region based in Rennes was to group the chambers of commerce of Côtes-du-Nord, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan, but in 1920 the chamber of commerce of Lorient, in Morbihan, chose to join the 5th Region based in Nantes.

On this model, in September 1919, the federations of tourist offices (syndicats d'initiative) formed 19 tourist regions, whose freely chosen boundaries followed geographic, ethnographic, historical and tourist criteria and cut across some departments, such as Loiret, Var and Lozère.^[81] Bills for administrative decentralisation, with the creation of regions and elected regional assemblies, were put forward from 1915, then in 1920 (the Hennessy bill) and 1921 (the Charles Rebel bill and the Millerand-Marraud-Doumer government bill), but none succeeded.

Vichy Regime Regional Prefectures (1941–1944)

Under the Vichy regime, in 1941, the departments were grouped into regions placed under regional prefects.^[83][84] Drawing on the traditionalist concepts of the pays réel promoted by Action française, Marshal Philippe Pétain enacted a regional reorganization formulated by Finance Minister Yves Bouthillier under the law of 19 April 1941 and decrees published on 30 June 1941.^[83] Seventeen regional prefectures were created, vesting departmental prefects in designated regional capitals with executive authority over grouped departmental administrations in matters of policing, public supply, and economic coordination.^[84]

The initial Vichy regions were centered around Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Clermont-Ferrand, Limoges, Toulouse, Orléans, Rennes, Angers, Poitiers, Rouen, Bordeaux, Laon, Châlons-sur-Marne, Nancy, Dijon, and Lille. The departments of Seine, Seine-et-Oise and Seine-et-Marne were not placed under the authority of a regional prefect for the Paris region, and no regional prefect was installed in Alsace-Moselle, which Germany had annexed de facto. A decree of 24 September 1941, proposed by Admiral Darlan, modified the regions of the free zone: the Lyon region lost Haute-Loire to Clermont-Ferrand and received Ardèche and Drôme from Marseille; the Marseille region received Gard from Montpellier; and Toulouse received Tarn. These regional prefectures did not survive the fall of the Vichy regime and were abolished immediately after the Liberation of France in 1944.^[83]

Post-War Reconstruction and the Fourth Republic

Expecting possible chaos at the Liberation and wanting to keep control of local administration, General Charles de Gaulle established administrative regions by an ordinance of 10 January 1944, placing each under a Commissioner of the Republic (commissaire de la République). The regional commissioners of the Republic held this role from 1944 to 1946.^[84] A law of 21 March 1948 set up Inspectors General of Administration on Extraordinary Mission (Inspecteurs généraux de l'administration en mission extraordinaire, or IGAME), each working within one of 13 districts known as igamies. The inspectors were tasked with coordinating the defence policy of the regions, in the context of the Cold War, as well as the action of the departmental prefects.

At the same time, concern grew over the overgrowth of Paris, the subject of Jean-François Gravier's successful 1947 book Paris et le désert français (Paris and the French Desert). The state therefore turned to national spatial planning (aménagement du territoire), drawing up a list of cities meant to act as a counterweight to the capital and assigning groups of departments to them. On 30 June 1955, the government of Edgar Faure enacted the Pflimlin decree, launching regional action programs (programmes d'action régionale) to promote economic and social expansion.^[85] A ministerial order signed on 28 November 1956 by Planning Commission deputy Jean Vergeot defined the boundaries of 24 program regions, including 22 in metropolitan France, establishing the territorial baseline for modern regional divisions.^[86]

Circonscriptions d'Action Régionale and Public Establishments

By Decree No. 60-516 of 2 June 1960, the Fifth Republic transformed the program regions into official regional action districts (circonscriptions d'action régionale, or CAR).^[84][87][88] This decree merged the earlier separate Alps and Rhône zones, transferred Basses-Pyrénées from Midi-Pyrénées to Aquitaine, and shifted Pyrénées-Orientales from Midi-Pyrénées to Languedoc.^[89] All state ministries were legally instructed to align their external territorial services with these 21 metropolitan divisions.^[89] On 14 March 1964, a decree created the office of coordinating regional prefect, assisted by a Regional Economic Development Commission (Commission de développement économique régionale, or CODER).^[89] The CODER operated as an appointed consultative assembly composed of local socio-economic representatives, trade unionists, and delegates from departmental general councils.^[89]

In 1969, President Charles de Gaulle proposed a constitutional referendum to give constitutional status to regions as political collectivities and merge the Senate with regional representatives.^[90] On 27 April 1969, French voters rejected the referendum by 52.4 percent, prompting De Gaulle's immediate resignation.^[90] Following the failed referendum, regional reform proceeded via cautious legislative compromise.^[90] On 9 January 1970, Decree No. 70-18 created a 22nd metropolitan district by separating Corsica from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.^[90]

Law No. 72-619 of 5 July 1972 transformed each CAR into a Regional Public Establishment (Établissement public régional, or EPR).^[3][90] Each EPR was administered by a regional council consisting of national parliamentarians from the region alongside delegates elected by departmental general councils and municipal councils, assisted by a consultative Economic and Social Committee.^[90] The regional prefect acted as the executive officer of the EPR, preparing and executing its deliberations.^[89][90] In 1976, the area around Paris, until then called the Région Parisienne, was placed on an equal footing with the other regions under the name Île-de-France.

Decentralisation Reforms from 1982 to 2015

The regional framework was fundamentally altered by the Decentralisation Law of 2 March 1982 (known as the Defferre Law, after Interior Minister Gaston Defferre).^[72][84] The law formally instituted the term région and elevated regions to full territorial collectivities alongside departments and communes.^[3][72] Executive authority was transferred from the state-appointed regional prefect to the elected president of the regional council, and regional councillors were mandated to be elected directly by universal suffrage.^[72][91] The first direct regional elections were held on 16 March 1986, coinciding with national legislative elections.^[72][91] In the overseas regions, the first regional elections had already been held in 1983. Corsica became a region with special status in 1982, and in 1991 it became a territorial collectivity with a special status giving it wider rights than a region.

Between 1982 and 2015, France comprised 27 administrative regions: 22 in metropolitan Europe and five overseas (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, and Mayotte, which joined in 2011).^[6][10] The table below shows the 27 regions as they existed on 31 December 2015, based on official 2013 census data:^[92][93]

Metropolitan Regions (1982–2015): * Alsace: capital Strasbourg; INSEE code 42; area 8,280 km2; population 1,868,183. * Aquitaine: capital Bordeaux; INSEE code 72; area 41,308 km2; population 3,316,889. * Auvergne: capital Clermont-Ferrand; INSEE code 83; area 26,013 km2; population 1,357,668. * Basse-Normandie: capital Caen; INSEE code 25; area 17,589 km2; population 1,478,712. * Bourgogne: capital Dijon; INSEE code 26; area 31,582 km2; population 1,642,687. * Bretagne: capital Rennes; INSEE code 53; area 27,208 km2; population 3,258,707. * Centre: capital Orléans; INSEE code 24; area 39,151 km2; population 2,570,548. * Champagne-Ardenne: capital Châlons-en-Champagne; INSEE code 21; area 25,606 km2; population 1,339,008. * Corse: capital Ajaccio; INSEE code 94; area 8,680 km2; population 320,208. * Franche-Comté: capital Besançon; INSEE code 43; area 16,202 km2; population 1,177,096. * Haute-Normandie: capital Rouen; INSEE code 23; area 12,317 km2; population 1,849,652. * Île-de-France: capital Paris; INSEE code 11; area 12,012 km2; population 11,959,807. * Languedoc-Roussillon: capital Montpellier; INSEE code 91; area 27,376 km2; population 2,729,721. * Limousin: capital Limoges; INSEE code 74; area 16,942 km2; population 737,509. * Lorraine: capital Metz; INSEE code 41; area 23,547 km2; population 2,345,197. * Midi-Pyrénées: capital Toulouse; INSEE code 73; area 45,348 km2; population 2,954,157. * Nord-Pas-de-Calais: capital Lille; INSEE code 31; area 12,414 km2; population 4,060,741. * Pays de la Loire: capital Nantes; INSEE code 52; area 32,082 km2; population 3,660,852. * Picardie: capital Amiens; INSEE code 22; area 19,399 km2; population 1,927,142. * Poitou-Charentes: capital Poitiers; INSEE code 54; area 25,810 km2; population 1,789,779. * Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur: capital Marseille; INSEE code 93; area 31,400 km2; population 4,953,675. * Rhône-Alpes: capital Lyon; INSEE code 82; area 43,698 km2; population 6,399,927. Overseas Regions (1982–2015): * Guadeloupe: capital Basse-Terre; INSEE code 01; area 1,628 km2; population 402,119. * Martinique: capital Fort-de-France; INSEE code 02; area 1,128 km2; population 385,551. * Guyane: capital Cayenne; INSEE code 03; area 83,534 km2; population 244,118. * La Réunion: capital Saint-Denis; INSEE code 04; area 2,504 km2; population 835,103. * Mayotte: capital Dzaoudzi (de jure) / Mamoudzou (de facto); INSEE code 06; area 374 km2; population 212,645.^[94]

Debates on Regional Boundaries Prior to Reform

The 1956 map of 22 metropolitan regions was frequently debated.^[89] Serge Antoine, the civil servant who played a central role in drawing the 1956 regional boundaries, later acknowledged in 2004 that the configuration had been intended as provisional and anticipated that natural consolidations would eventually reduce the number of regions and departments.^[89] The report of the Attali Commission had earlier raised the abolition of the departments in favour of the regions as an option for study. In 2009, the Committee for the Reform of Local Collectivities, chaired by former prime minister Édouard Balladur, proposed reducing the number of French regions from 22 to 15.

Specific boundary controversies persisted for decades across multiple territories: * Pays de la Loire was frequently criticized as an artificial administrative creation lacking historic cohesion, with active campaigns advocating the reunification of the department of Loire-Atlantique with the administrative region of Brittany.^[95] * Poitou-Charentes lacked a dominant central metropolis and was divided between the regional pulls of Bordeaux in the south and Tours and Nantes in the north, while daily newspaper distribution reflected a deep division between Charente-Maritime and Vienne.^[96][97][98] Former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin proposed merging departments to reconstitute historic Poitou.^[99] * The division of historic Normandy into Haute-Normandie and Basse-Normandie was contested, and a merger of the two regions was regularly raised and was a recurring theme in regional elections.^[100][101] * Cultural regions such as Gascony were divided between Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées, with Gers and Hautes-Pyrénées located in Midi-Pyrénées.^[102] * In southeastern France, debate centered on whether the department of Hautes-Alpes and southern Drôme belonged culturally to Provence or the Dauphiné, while regionalists in Nîmes and eastern Gard debated whether economic alignment with Montpellier outweighed historic Provençal linguistic ties.^{[103][104][105]} * The Territoire de Belfort, culturally Alsatian, has been attached to Franche-Comté rather than Alsace since the war of 1870.^[106] * Administrative Auvergne incorporated Bourbonnais (Allier) and Velay (eastern Haute-Loire), which historically had ties to Languedoc, while Limousin incorporated the historic Marche.^[107][108] * Regionalist and autonomist movements in Savoy, Northern Basque Country, Roussillon (Northern Catalonia), and the County of Nice periodically called for dedicated administrative departments or explicit recognition in regional nomenclature.^[109]

The 2014–2016 Territorial Reform

In 2014, the government initiated a major territorial reform under the presidency of François Hollande to simplify local governance and generate administrative savings estimated at 10 billion euros over five to ten years.^[110][111]

Legislative Passage and Political Debates

On 8 April 2014, Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivered his general policy declaration announcing the third act of decentralisation (Acte III de la décentralisation), which proposed cutting the number of metropolitan regions in half effective 1 January 2017.^[112] On 2 June 2014, President François Hollande presented an initial proposal to establish 14 metropolitan regions through mergers.^[111][113] Valls clarified on 3 June 2014 that individual departments would not be granted a right of option (droit d'option) to change regional affiliation, stating that once departments started being moved, there would be no end to it.^[114]

The bill experienced contentious debate in Parliament.^[115][116] The Senate rejected the initial draft in committee and later removed Article 1, which contained the proposed regional map.^[115] On 9 July 2014, the Law Commission of the National Assembly voted a new text that restored a 14-region map in the first article.^[117] On 23 July 2014, the National Assembly voted in first reading to adopt a 13-region map.^[117][118] The revisions merged Limousin and Poitou-Charentes into Aquitaine rather than creating a separate central-western entity; combined Picardy with Nord-Pas-de-Calais; and joined Champagne-Ardenne with Alsace and Lorraine.^[116]

The merger of Alsace into the eastern super-region led to large protests in Alsace, including demonstrations in Strasbourg, and UMP deputies from Alsace campaigned against the plan until the end.^{[118][119][120]} In Parliament, opposition parties including the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), the Left Front, the Ecologists, and the Radical Party of the Left voted largely against the redrawing, while the Socialist majority supported the measure.^[118] The bill was formally passed by the National Assembly on 17 December 2014.^[121] Following review and validation by the Constitutional Council, Law No. 2015-29 was promulgated on 16 January 2015, establishing the 13-region metropolitan map with effect from 1 January 2016.^{[110][122][123]}

Naming Process and Capital Selection

The law gave interim names to the newly merged regions by combining the names of the former regions in alphabetical order, with the exception of Normandy, which was called Normandie.^[124] The law permitted the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire, effective 17 January 2015.^[125][126] Strasbourg was designated early as the seat of the merged northeastern region, and on 31 July 2015 the government provisionally set the seats of the regional prefectures of the other new regions.

Elections for the new regional councils took place in December 2015.^[124] The newly elected councils were required to submit proposals for permanent regional names and administrative capitals to the national government by 1 July 2016.^[124][127] The council of Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes selected Nouvelle-Aquitaine on 27 June 2016.^[128][129] Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine chose Grand Est.^[130] Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie selected Hauts-de-France following a regional consultation of high-school students and apprentices.^[131][132] Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées approved Occitanie on 24 June 2016.^[133] Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté voted to make their interim hyphenated names permanent.^{[134][135][136]} The permanent names and regional capitals were confirmed by Council of State decrees on 28 September 2016, published in the Journal officiel on 29 September, and entered into full legal force on 30 September 2016.^{[127][137][138]}

Political Control of Regional Presidencies

Since direct regional elections were inaugurated in 1986, political control of regional council presidencies across metropolitan and overseas France has shifted between the main political coalitions:^[72][91]

* 1986 elections: Left coalitions won 5 presidencies (Socialist Party, PS); Right coalitions won 21 presidencies (Rally for the Republic, RPR; Union for French Democracy, UDF). * 1992 elections: Left coalitions won 4 presidencies; Right coalitions won 21 presidencies; Other formations won 1 presidency (FreeDom). * 1998 elections: Left coalitions won 10 presidencies; Right coalitions won 15 presidencies; Other formations won 1 presidency. * 2004 elections: Left coalitions won 23 presidencies; Right coalitions won 2 presidencies; Other formations won 1 presidency.

Regional Codification and Statistical Divisions

To coordinate economic planning and statistical analysis across national, European, and international bodies, French regions are integrated into standardized nomenclature systems.^[139][140]

International and European Classifications

Under the international ISO 3166-2 standard maintained by the International Organization for Standardization, French metropolitan regions are identified by two-letter or three-letter alpha codes following the country prefix FR-.^[141][142] The 2016 reform necessitated updated codes: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is coded FR-ARA, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is FR-BFC, Grand Est is FR-GES, Hauts-de-France is FR-HDF, Normandie is FR-NOR, Nouvelle-Aquitaine is FR-NAQ, and Occitanie is FR-OCC.^[141][142] Unmerged metropolitan regions retained their previous codes: Brittany (FR-BRE), Centre-Val de Loire (FR-CVL), Corsica (FR-20R), Île-de-France (FR-IDF), Pays de la Loire (FR-PDL), and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (FR-PAC).^[141] The five overseas regions have ISO 3166-2 subdivision codes: Guadeloupe (FR-971), French Guiana (FR-973), Martinique (FR-972), Réunion (FR-974), and Mayotte (FR-976).^[141]

Within the European Union Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), France was historically divided into Zones of Studies and Spatial Planning (Zones d'études et d'aménagement du territoire, or ZEAT).^[139] Established in 1967 by INSEE, the Planning Commissariat, and DATAR, the eight continental ZEATs (Paris Basin, Paris Region, North, East, West, Southwest, Center-East, and Mediterranean) served as NUTS 1 statistical units through 2017, with the 22 former regions serving as NUTS 2 units and departments as NUTS 3.^[139] Effective 1 January 2018, under the revised NUTS 2016 framework (and retained in NUTS 2024), the 14 new territorial collectivities became the NUTS 1 level (coded FR1 and FRB through FRM, alongside FRY for overseas regions), while the 27 former regions were re-designated as NUTS 2 units.^{[140][143][144][145]}

National Official Geographic Code

Domestically, administrative territories are catalogued in the Official Geographic Code (Code officiel géographique, or COG), maintained and updated annually by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).^[146][147] First published in 1941, the COG received statutory approval by ministerial order on 28 November 2003.^[148][149] Regional codes were first integrated into the COG in 1982 for metropolitan France, followed in 1990 by two-digit codes for overseas departments (01 for Guadeloupe, 02 for Martinique, 03 for French Guiana, 04 for Réunion, and later 06 for Mayotte).^[150]

Each of the 13 metropolitan regions has a two-digit INSEE code.^[150] Unchanged regions retained their historical numbers: Île-de-France (11), Centre-Val de Loire (24), Pays de la Loire (52), Bretagne (53), Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (93), and Corsica (94).^[150] The seven merged regions have the codes Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (27), Normandie (28), Hauts-de-France (32), Grand Est (44), Nouvelle-Aquitaine (75), Occitanie (76), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (84). Across France, these 18 regions encompass 101 departments, 333 arrondissements, 2,054 cantons, and 34,875 communes.^[146][151]

List of Administrative Regions

The eighteen regions of France comprise thirteen metropolitan regions and five overseas regions. The table below presents the official administrative designations, administrative capitals (chefs-lieux), constituent departments, total surface area, legal population figures from the 2023 census, population estimates for 2026, population density, INSEE codes, and current regional council presidents:^{[152][153][154]}

Metropolitan Regions: 1. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: capital Lyon; 12 departments plus the Métropole de Lyon (Ain, Allier, Ardèche, Cantal, Drôme, Isère, Loire, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône, Savoie, Haute-Savoie); area 69,711 km2; population 8,205,557 (2023); estimated population 8,303,191 (2026); density 117.7 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 84; President: Fabrice Pannekoucke (LR).^[155] 2. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: capital Dijon (administrative seat Besançon); 8 departments (Côte-d'Or, Doubs, Jura, Nièvre, Haute-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne, Territoire de Belfort); area 47,784 km2; population 2,802,670 (2023); estimated population 2,794,043 (2026); density 58.7 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 27; President: Jérôme Durain (PS).^[156] 3. Bretagne (Brittany): capital Rennes; 4 departments (Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine, Morbihan); area 27,208 km2; population 3,449,370 (2023); estimated population 3,510,058 (2026); density 126.8 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 53; President: Loïg Chesnais-Girard (PS).^[154] 4. Centre-Val de Loire: capital Orléans; 6 departments (Cher, Eure-et-Loir, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret); area 39,151 km2; population 2,587,031 (2023); estimated population 2,589,286 (2026); density 66.1 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 24; President: François Bonneau (PS).^[154] 5. Corse (Corsica): capital Ajaccio; 2 departmental districts (Corse-du-Sud, Haute-Corse); area 8,722 km2; population 355,486 (2023); estimated population 365,636 (2026); density 41.0 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 94; President of the Assembly: Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis (FaC); President of the Executive Council: Gilles Simeoni (FaC).^[154] 6. Grand Est: capital Strasbourg; 10 departments (Ardennes, Aube, Marne, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Vosges); area 57,441 km2; population 5,563,378 (2023); estimated population 5,544,271 (2026); density 96.9 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 44; President: Franck Leroy (DVD).^[154][157] 7. Hauts-de-France: capital Lille; 5 departments (Aisne, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Somme); area 31,806 km2; population 5,992,194 (2023); estimated population 5,965,764 (2026); density 188.4 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 32; President: Xavier Bertrand (LR).^[158] 8. Île-de-France: capital Paris; 8 departments (Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Val-d'Oise); area 12,012 km2; population 12,463,067 (2023); estimated population 12,594,502 (2026); density 1,037.6 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 11; President: Valérie Pécresse (LR).^[154] 9. Normandie (Normandy): capital Rouen (council headquarters Caen); 5 departments (Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne, Seine-Maritime); area 29,907 km2; population 3,345,842 (2023); estimated population 3,353,726 (2026); density 111.9 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 28; President: Hervé Morin (LC).^[159] 10. Nouvelle-Aquitaine: capital Bordeaux; 12 departments (Charente, Charente-Maritime, Corrèze, Creuse, Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Haute-Vienne); area 84,036 km2; population 6,150,451 (2023); estimated population 6,241,784 (2026); density 73.2 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 75; President: Alain Rousset (PS).^[160] 11. Occitanie: capital Toulouse; 13 departments (Ariège, Aude, Aveyron, Gard, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Hérault, Lot, Lozère, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Orientales, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne); area 72,724 km2; population 6,124,653 (2023); estimated population 6,246,988 (2026); density 84.2 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 76; President: Carole Delga (PS).^[161] 12. Pays de la Loire: capital Nantes; 5 departments (Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Vendée); area 32,082 km2; population 3,907,156 (2023); estimated population 3,965,226 (2026); density 121.8 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 52; President: Christelle Morançais (Horizons).^[154] 13. Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur: capital Marseille; 6 departments (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse); area 31,400 km2; population 5,218,960 (2023); estimated population 5,318,370 (2026); density 166.2 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 93; President: Renaud Muselier (RE).^[154] Total for Metropolitan France: area 543,941 km2; population 66,165,815 (2023); estimated population 66,792,845 (2026); average density 121.7 inhabitants/km2.

Overseas Regions: 14. Guadeloupe: capital Basse-Terre; 1 department; area 1,628 km2; population 384,160 (2023); estimated population 382,586 (2026); density 235.9 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 01; President of the Regional Council: Ary Chalus (LREM-GUSR). 15. Martinique: capital Fort-de-France; 1 department; area 1,128 km2; population 360,630 (2023); estimated population 358,818 (2026); density 319.7 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 02; President of the Assembly: Lucien Saliber (Alians Matinik, DVG); President of the Executive Council: Serge Letchimy (PPM). 16. Guyane (French Guiana): capital Cayenne; 1 department; area 83,534 km2; population 293,996 (2023); estimated population 298,554 (2026); density 3.5 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 03; President of the Assembly: Gabriel Serville (PG). 17. La Réunion: capital Saint-Denis; 1 department; area 2,504 km2; population 889,679 (2023); estimated population 910,985 (2026); density 355.3 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 04; President of the Regional Council: Huguette Bello (PLR). 18. Mayotte: capital Mamoudzou; 1 department; area 374 km2; population 256,518 (2017 census) / estimated 338,208 (2026); density 685.9 inhabitants/km2; INSEE code 06; President of the Departmental Council: Ben Issa Ousseni (LR).^[162] Total for Overseas Regions: area 89,168 km2; population 2,184,983 (2023); estimated population 2,289,151 (2026); average density 24.5 inhabitants/km2.^[152] Total for All French Regions: area 633,109 km2; population 68,350,798 (2023); estimated population 69,081,996 (2026); average density 107.9 inhabitants/km2.

References

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34. Décret no 2010-633 du 8 juin 2010 relatif à l'organisation et aux missions des directions régionales des affaires culturelles
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39. Association internationale des régions francophones
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46. Légifrance, « Loi no 2010-1563 du 16 décembre 2010 de réforme des collectivités territoriales »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?) (consulté le 6 août 2014).
47. Légifrance, « Loi n° 2014-58 du 27 janvier 2014 de modernisation de l'action publique territoriale et d'affirmation des métropoles » (consulté le 6 août 2014) - TITRE Ier : Clarification des compétences et coordination des acteurs – Chap.1er : Le rétablissement de la clause de compétence générale.
48. Virginie Donier, Droit des collectivités territoriales, 2014, p. 41.
49. « Tableau de répartition des compétences entre collectivités territoriales », sur le Portail de l'État au service des collectivités (consulté le 12 mai 2025)
50. « Histoire de srégions », sur arf.asso.fr (consulté le 1er septembre 2014).
51. 地域の自由と責任に関する法律等の経緯自治体国際化協会
52. Rapport de M. Antoine Lefèvre, « Clarification de la répartition des compétences entre l'État et les collectivités territoriales », sur senat.fr, 2 février 2011 (consulté le 2 septembre 2014).
53. Article L4413-1 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
54. Article L4413-2 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
55. Article L4413-3 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
56. Robert Marconis, « France : recompositions territoriales », Documentation photographique no 8051, 2006, p. 9.
57. Robert Marconis, France : recompositions territoriales, Documentation photographique n° 8051, 2006, pág. 9.
58. Robert Marconis, France : recompositions territoriales, Documentation photographique n° 8051, 2006, páx. 9.
59. « Les collectivités locales en chiffres - 2014 »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?) [PDF], sur collectivites-locales.gouv.fr (consulté le 2 septembre 2014), p. 103.
60. Article L4422-18 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
61. "Quel est le statut de la Corse ?" (dalam bahasa Perancis). Vie-publique.fr. 8 Jun 2026. Dicapai pada 18 Julai 2026.
62. Article L364 du Code électoral
63. Article R4422-4 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
64. « Fiche de synthèse no 11 : l'organisation territoriale de la France », sur assemblee-nationale.fr via Wikiwix (consulté le 2 septembre 2014).
65. « Mayotte, nouveau DOM et première collectivité unique d'outre-mer », L'Obs,‎ 20 mars 2011 (lire en ligne).
66. « Mayotte devient le 101e département français »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?), sur Portail du Gouvernement, 4 avril 2011 : « C'est pourquoi Mayotte devient le 101e département français et le 5e département d'outre-mer et région d'outre-mer. ».
67. Le terme « Département de Mayotte » est un nom propre, qui doit exclusivement être utilisé en lieu et place de « département de Mayotte », en référence à l'article L1711-1 du code général des collectivités territoriales.
68. « Étude d'impact du projet de loi organique relatif au Département de Mayotte »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?) [PDF], sur legifrance.gouv.fr, juillet 2010 (consulté le 3 septembre 2014), p. 23.
69. "Article L7311-1 du Code général des collectivités territoriales" (dalam bahasa Perancis). Légifrance. Dicapai pada 18 Julai 2026.
70. Loi no 2011-884 du 27 juillet 2011 relative aux collectivités territoriales de Guyane et de Martinique.
71. "Qu'est-ce qu'un département ou une région d'outre-mer ?" (dalam bahasa Perancis). Vie-publique.fr. 5 Januari 2026. Dicapai pada 18 Julai 2026.
72. Jean-Marie Miossec, Géohistoire de la régionalisation en France, Presses universitaires de France, 2009, (ISBN 978-2-13-056665-6).
73. Article L4433-3-2 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
74. Article R4432-5 du Code général des collectivités territoriales
75. Droit administratif général, Jean-Louis Autin, Catherine Ribot, Litec, p. 59.
76. « depuis le début du s. XIXe, il existait en France un mouvement qui revendiquait la création d'entités administratives et politiques permettant une décentralisation accrue des pouvoirs et la reconnaissance des identités régionales ». Droit administratif général, Jean-Louis Autin, Catherine Ribot, Litec, p. 59.
77. Les Partis autonomistes, Daniel Seiler, PUF, Que sais-je ? no 1997, p. 20-21.
78. « dès que le transfert de souveraineté passe au Parlement et surtout à la Nation, la périphérie ressent sa différence et s'accroche à l'ordre antérieur »Les Partis autonomistes, Daniel Seiler, PUF, Que sais-je ? numéro 1997 , p. 20-21.
79. « dès que le transfert de souveraineté passe au Parlement et surtout à la Nation, la périphérie ressent sa différence et s'accroche à l'ordre antérieur »Les Partis autonomistes, Daniel Seiler, BUO, Que sais-je ? numéro 1997 , p. 20-21.
80. L'Idée de décentralisation, Charles Maurras, 1898
81. Géographie de la France, par Pierre Foncin (1891), Édition Colin.
82. Philippe Veitl, « De Nice au Léman, l'impossible « invention » de la région des Alpes françaises », Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 75, no 3,‎ 1987, p. 133-154 (lire en ligne, consulté le 21 septembre 2026).
83. Henry Rousso: Vichy. Frankreich unter deutscher Besatzung 1940–1944. C.H. Beck, München 2009, S. 57.
84. Miossec, Jean-Marie (2009). Géohistoire de la régionalisation en France. París: Presses universitaires de France. ISBN 978-2-13-056665-6.
85. [PDF] Décret no 55-873 du 30 juin 1955 relatif à l'établissement de programmes d'action régionale.
86. Cet arrêté, publié au Journal officiel du 6 décembre 1956, p. 11649, peut être [PDF] consulté en ligne.
87. Il s'agit du décret 60-516 du 2 juin 1960, publié au Journal officiel du 3 juin, p. 5007 et disponible en ligne[PDF].
88. Se trata del decreto 60-516 del 2 de junio de 1960, publicado en el Journal officiel de 3 junio , p. 5007 y disponible en ligne — PDF.
89. Les tenants et aboutissants de cette réforme de 1960 ont été traités par l'hebdomadaire L'Express dans un article du 15 mars 2004 de Michel Feltin Serge Antoine L'homme qui a dessiné les régions, article disponible en ligne.
90. Sénat, « Décret (extraits) no 69.296 du 2 avril 1969 décidant de soumettre un projet de loi au référendum » (consulté le 9 décembre 2017).
91. Jean-Marie Miossec (2009), Géohistoire de la régionalisation en France, Paris: Presses universitaires de France ISBN 978-2-13-056665-6.
92. « Populations légales 2013 des régions de France » [PDF], sur le site de l'Insee (consulté le 8 octobre 2016) - Population en vigueur au 1er janvier 2016.
93. « Les collectivités locales en chiffres - 2015 »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?) [PDF], sur le Portail de l'État au service des collectivités (consulté le 8 octobre 2016), p. 88.
94. Population 2012 de Mayotte, Insee, 7 octobre 2016.
95. Les Échos - Pays de la Loire - Archives
96. Jacqueline Beaujeu-Garnier, La France des villes: Sud-ouest, La Documentation française, 1978 (ISBN 2-1100-0142-9, lire en ligne), p. 83 | //books.google.com/books?id=rFIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA83
97. Jacques Péret, Histoire de la Révolution française en Poitou-Charentes, Projets Éditions, 1988, 385 p. (ISBN 2-4022-3290-0, lire en ligne), p. 12 | //books.google.com/books?id=xdxYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12
98. Poitou-Charentes, charnière ou rupture in Norois, revue géographique de l'Ouest et des pays de l'Atlantique nord, vol. 40, Université de Caen, Laboratoire de géographie, 1993, chap. 157-160, p. 161
99. Baptiste Bize, « Le Poitou, un moyen de peser en Nouvelle-Aquitaine : Jean-Pierre Raffarin estime que le poids du Poitou n'est pas reconnu au sein de la grande région et plaide pour la création d'un département unique. », La Nouvelle République,‎ 7 octobre 2017 (lire en ligne)
100. Le Conseil économique et social régional de Basse-Normandie a ainsi réalisé une étude sur le sujet à la demande des deux conseils régionaux, tandis que le président Nicolas Sarkozy a évoqué une possible unification des deux régions lors d'un discours du 27 novembre 2008 devant le Congrès des maires et des présidents de communautés de France.
101. « Proposition de loi tendant à la réunification de la Normandie », Assemblée nationale, 1999 (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
102. Histoire de la Gascogne, Toulouse, Privat, 1978 (ISBN 2-7089-3303-4[à vérifier : ISBN invalide])
103. « Hautes-Alpes », Larousse (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
104. « Découvrir la Drôme provençale : là où se rencontrent le nord et le sud », Vins Rhône Tourisme, 30 juin 2025 (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
105. « La langue d'oc du Gard », Académie de Lascours (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
106. « L'histoire du Territoire de Belfort », Préfecture du Territoire de Belfort, 20 avril 2022 (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
107. « L'invention des départements », sur Atlas historique d'Auvergne, Maison des sciences de l'homme de l'Université Clermont Auvergne (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
108. « Glossaire — La Marche », sur Atlas historique du Limousin, Université de Limoges (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
109. « Département de la Savoie — Archives », Archives départementales de la Savoie (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
110. Выписка из протокола Совета министров 18.06.2014 Национального собрания Франции Архивная копия от 24 декабря 2015 на Wayback Machine (фр.)
111. François Hollande: Réformer les territoires pour réformer la France. Tribune publiée dans la presse quotidienne régionale datée du 3 juin 2014. Pressemitteilung, publiziert auf der Website des Präsidenten der Republik am 2. Juni 2014, abgerufen am 3. Mai 2015 (inzwischen offline); Link zum Web Archive
112. Le Parisien, 13 avril 2014. Voir aussi le discours de politique générale prononcé par Manuel Valls à l'Assemblée nationale.
113. Emmanuel Berretta, Réforme territoriale : Hollande arbitre pour 14 régions, Le Point, 2 juin 2014.
114. Bastien Bonnefous, « Valls se dit “ouvert” à réduire encore le nombre de régions », Le Monde, 3 juin 2014.
115. Voir le dossier législatif (site du Sénat) et le rapport no 1120 du 10 juillet 2014, rédigé par Carlos Da Silva au nom de la commission des lois de l'Assemblée nationale.
116. Laure Equy, Rémy Dodet: Réforme territoriale. L’Assemblée coupe court. (Memento vom 8. November 2014 im Internet Archive) In: Libération.fr, 22. Juli 2014.
117. « L'Assemblée vote une nouvelle carte des régions en commission », Le Parisien, 9 juillet 2014 (consulté le 25 octobre 2014).
118. Elsässer protestieren gegen Gebietsreform dpa, AFP 14. Dezember 2014, abgerufen am 3. Mai 2015.
119. Manifestation à Strasbourg pour une Alsace sans la Lorraine. In: Libération.fr, 11. Oktober 2014; Olivier Mirguet: Contre la fusion des régions, l’Alsace défile et caricature la Lorraine. In: L’Express.fr, 11. Oktober 2014.
120. François Guillot: Des autonomistes alsaciens en lutte contre la fusion de l’Alsace avec la Lorraine. L’Express, 26. Februar 2015, abgerufen am 23. März 2015 (französisch).
121. AFP, « La carte à 13 régions définitivement adoptée », Le Monde, 17 décembre 2014 (ISSN 1950-6244, consulté le 21 décembre 2018).
122. Loi du 16 janvier 2015, Vie Politique, 20. Januar 2015, abgerufen am 14. Mai 2024.
123. Gesetz Nr. 2015-29 vom 16. Januar 2015 über die Abgrenzung der Regionen, die Regional- und Departementswahlen und der Veränderung des Wahlkalenders (Loi relative à la délimitation des régions, aux élections régionales et départementales et modifiant le calendrier électoral), in: Journal Officiel de la République française vom 16. Januar 2015 en ligne, abgerufen am 3. Mai 2015
124. Quel nom pour la nouvelle région ? Vous avez choisi..., Sud-Ouest, 4 December 2014, accessed 2 January 2015
125. "Journal officiel of 17 January 2015". Légifrance (in French). 17 January 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
126. virdrunn: Regioun Centre
127. Frédérique Schneider, La région Grand-Est va-t-elle devenir la « Nouvelle Austrasie » ?, 13 mars 2016.
128. Benoît Lasserre, « Un nouveau nom et avec un trait d'union », Sud Ouest, 28 juin 2016, p. 8.
129. Les documents de communication porteront comme sous-titre « Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes ».
130. « Le nom « Grand Est » officiellement choisi pour la région Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne »(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Google • Que faire ?), Libération (consulté le 24 juin 2016).
131. « Bienvenue en région Hauts-de-France ! », sur nordpasdecalaispicardie.fr, 14 mars 2016 (consulté le 14 mars 2016).
132. « La Région a voté et s'appelle désormais Hauts-de-France », La Voix du Nord, 14 mars 2016 (consulté le 14 mars 2016).
133. J.R., « La région Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées sera rebaptisée Occitanie », 24 juin 2016 (consulté le 24 juin 2016).
134. "Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes : fini la consultation, Laurent Wauquiez a tranché". Place Gre'net. 31 May 2016.
135. "Région Bourgogne-Franche-Comté". bourgognefranchecomte.fr.
136. « La région s’appellera "Bourgogne-Franche-Comté" (Actualités) », sur bourgognefranchecomte.fr (consulté le 24 juin 2016).
137. « Décret no 2016-1264 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Occitanie », sur Légifrance, 28 juin 2016 (consulté le 29 septembre 2016).
138. «Les noms des nouvelles régions sont actés», Ministère de l'intérieur, 29. september 2016. Lest 6. oktober 2016.
139. Les huit zones d'études et d'aménagement du territoire. In: Économie et statistique, no 5, octobre 1969. p. 45-48, consulté le 30 août 2014
140. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/fr/web/nuts/history
141. « FR - France (la) - ISO 3166-2:FR », sur Organisation internationale de normalisation, 25 novembre 2021 (consulté le 21 juillet 2024).
142. « ISO 3166-2 — France », sur ISO Online Browsing Platform (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
143. « Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
144. « Zone d'études et d'aménagement du territoire », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
145. « Regions in the European Union Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) – 2024 edition », Eurostat, 16 décembre 2024 (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
146. « Code officiel géographique au 1er janvier 2026 », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
147. « Code officiel géographique », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
148. « Arrêté du 28 novembre 2003 relatif au code officiel géographique », Légifrance (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
149. « Code officiel géographique (COG) », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
150. Gérard Lang, Le Code officiel géographique, Insee, décembre 2003, 53–62 p. (lire en ligne), chap. 108
151. « France (champ statistique) », Insee (consulté le 20 septembre 2026)
152. « Les collectivités locales en chiffres - 2023 » [PDF], sur collectivites-locales.gouv.fr (consulté le 21 juillet 2024), p. 128.
153. « Estimation de la population au 1ᵉʳ janvier 2026 | Insee », sur www.insee.fr (consulté le 7 avril 2026)
154. CARTE. Quelles seront les capitales des futures régions de France ?, France TV info, 13 avril 2015.
155. Décret no 2016-1266 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
156. Jacky Page: Deux villes pour une région : Dijon et Besançon se partagent le chef-lieu et le siège du Conseil régional. France Bleu, 24 juin 2016
157. Décret no 2016-1262 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom de la région Grand Est
158. Décret no 2016-1265 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Hauts-de-France
159. Décret no 2016-1263 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Normandie
160. Décret no 2016-1267 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Nouvelle-Aquitaine
161. Décret no 2016-1264 du 28 septembre 2016 portant fixation du nom et du chef-lieu de la région Occitanie
162. Insee, « 256 500 habitants à Mayotte en 2017 - Insee Focus - 105 », sur Insee (consulté le 5 juillet 2018).