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 :
  • Mayotte, strictly speaking a "departmental collectivity", is divided into 17 communes
  • Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is divided into 2 communes
  • Wallis and Futuna is the only permanently inhabited territory of the French Republic with no communes
• 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.