- Provinces of the Dominican Republic
-
Dominican Republic 
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is divided into thirty–one provincias (provinces; singular provincia), while the national capital, Santo Domingo, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional ("National District"; "D.N." on the map below).
The division of the country into provinces is laid down in the constitution (Title I, Section II, Article 5)[1] and enacted by law. The latter is currently Law 5220 on the Territorial Division of the Dominican Republic (Ley No. 5220 sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana), issued 1959 and frequently amended to create new provinces and lower–level administrative units.
Contents
The provinces as administrative divisions
The provinces are the first–level administrative subdivisions of the country. The headquarters of the central government's regional offices are normally found in the capital cities of provinces. The president appoints an administrative governor (Gobernador Civil) for each province but not for the Distrito Nacional (Title IX of the constitution).[1]
The provinces are divided into municipalities (municipios), which are the second–level political and administrative subdivisions of the country.[1]
The Distrito Nacional was created in 1936. Prior to this, the Distrito National was the old Santo Domingo Province, in existence since the country's independence in 1844. It is not to be confused with the new Santo Domingo Province split off from it in 2001. While it is similar to a province in many ways, the Distrito Nacional differs in its lack of an administrative governor and consisting only of one municipality, Santo Domingo, the city council (ayuntamiento) and mayor (síndico) of which are in charge of its administration.[2]
The provinces as constituencies
The provinces are also constituencies for the elections to the bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la República). Each province elects one member of the Senate (Senado) and a guaranteed minimum of two members of the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados).[1][3]
Statistics
The following is a table of the provinces and their capital cities. The population figures are from the 2010 population estimate.[4]
Province Capital Area (km²) [5]Population[4] Density[5] Azua Azua 2,531.77 242,109 96 Baoruco Neiba 1,282.23 114,967 90 Barahona Barahona 1,739.38 200,602 115 Dajabón Dajabón 1,020.73 66,954 66 Distrito Nacional Santo Domingo 104.44 1,587,412 15,199 Duarte San Francisco de Macorís 1,605.35 299,188 186 Elías Piña Comendador 1,426.20 72,130 51 El Seibo El Seibo 1,786.80 105,994 59 Espaillat Moca 838.62 237,101 283 Hato Mayor Hato Mayor 1,329.29 90,773 68 Hermanas Mirabal Salcedo 440.43 103,259 234 Independencia Jimaní 2,006.44 55,223 28 La Altagracia Higüey 3,010.34 229,428 76 La Romana La Romana 653.95 246,234 377 La Vega La Vega 2,287.24 429,563 188 María Trinidad Sánchez Nagua 1,271.71 141,678 111 Monseñor Nouel Bonao 992.39 194,505 196 Monte Cristi Monte Cristi 1,924.35 120,833 63 Monte Plata Monte Plata 2,632.14 210,365 80 Pedernales Pedernales 2,074.53 25,478 12 Peravia Baní 792.33 202,250 255 Puerto Plata Puerto Plata 1,852.90 327,511 177 Samaná Samaná 853.74 98,820 116 Sánchez Ramírez Cotuí 1,196.13 156,238 131 San Cristóbal San Cristóbal 1,265.77 660,009 521 San José de Ocoa San José de Ocoa 855.40 69,204 81 San Juan San Juan de la Maguana 3,569.39 245,377 69 San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís 1,255.46 337,108 269 Santiago Santiago de los Caballeros 2,836.51 1,959,105 690 Santiago Rodríguez Sabaneta 1,111.14 54,865 49 Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Este 1,296.35 2,607,838 2,011 Valverde Mao 823.38 190,253 231 Total 48,666.83 9,884,372 203 Map
See also
- Geography of the Dominican Republic
- Demographics of Dominican Republic
References
- ^ a b c d Asamblea Nacional. "CONSTITUCION DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA" (in Spanish). http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/DomRep/domrep02.html. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
- ^ EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley No. 163-01 que crea la provincia de Santo Domingo, y modifica los Artículos 1 y 2 de la Ley No. 5220, sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana." (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070518042944/http://www.informejudicial.com/leyes/Division+Territorial/Ley+163-01,+crea+Provincia+Santo+Domingo+y+Modifica+Articulos+1+y+2+Ley+5220.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- ^ EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley Electoral, No. 275-97" (in Spanish). http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Electoral/DomRep/ley97.html. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
- ^ a b Consejo Nacional de Población y Familia. "Estimaciones y Proyecciones de la Población Dominicana por Regiones, Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales, 2010" (in Spanish) (PDF). http://www.conapofa.gov.do/estimaciones.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ^ a b Oficina Nacional de Estadística. "República Dominicana en Cifras 2006" (in Spanish) (PDF). http://www.one.gob.do/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=326. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
External links
- (Spanish) Oficina Nacional de Estadística (National Statistics Office). Official statistics portal of the Dominican Republic.
- (Spanish) Blog of the Dominican Republic, videos, news, culture and music
Lists of Provinces of the Dominican Republic 
Listed by: flags • date of provincehood • name etymology
Provinces of the Dominican Republic Azua · Baoruco · Barahona · Dajabón · Distrito Nacional · Duarte · Elías Piña · El Seibo · Espaillat · Hato Mayor · Hermanas Mirabal · Independencia · La Altagracia · La Romana · La Vega · María Trinidad Sánchez · Monseñor Nouel · Monte Cristi · Monte Plata · Pedernales · Peravia · Puerto Plata · Samaná · Sánchez Ramírez · San Cristóbal · San José de Ocoa · San Juan · San Pedro de Macorís · Santiago · Santiago Rodríguez · Santo Domingo · Valverde
Articles on first-level administrative divisions of North American countries Antigua and Barbuda · Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Costa Rica · Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Grenada · Guatemala · Haiti · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · St. Kitts and Nevis · St. Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago · United States
Table of administrative country subdivisions by countryCategories:- Provinces of the Dominican Republic
- Subdivisions of the Dominican Republic
- Lists of country subdivisions
- Country subdivisions of the Americas
- First-level administrative country subdivisions
- Dominican Republic-related lists
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