Provinces 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).

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See also: Geographic Regions of the Dominican Republic

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.

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) 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 2014 population estimate.[4]

Province Capital
Area (km²)
[5]		Population[4]Density[5]
Azua Azua 2,531.77298,246118
Baoruco Neiba 1,282.23111,26987
Barahona Barahona 1,739.38232,818134
Dajabón Dajabón 1,020.7387,27486
Distrito Nacional Santo Domingo 104.441,402,74913,431
Duarte San Francisco de Macorís 1,605.35338,649211
El Seibo El Seibo 1,786.80110,21262
Elías Piña Comendador 1,426.2084,63259
Espaillat Moca 838.62333,401398
Hato Mayor Hato Mayor 1,329.29103,03278
Hermanas Mirabal Salcedo 440.43121,887277
Independencia Jimaní 2,006.4474,58337
La Altagracia Higüey 3,010.34372,289124
La Romana La Romana 653.95344,580527
La Vega Concepción de La Vega 2,287.24447,905196
María Trinidad Sánchez Nagua 1,271.71195,886154
Monseñor Nouel Bonao 992.39203,183205
Monte Cristi Monte Cristi 1,924.35150,83378
Monte Plata Monte Plata 2,632.14222,64185
Pedernales Pedernales 2,074.5352,16525
Peravia Baní 792.33217,241274
Puerto Plata Puerto Plata 1,852.90498,232269
Samaná Samaná 853.74139,707164
San Cristóbal San Cristóbal 1,265.77640,066506
San José de Ocoa San José de Ocoa 855.4097,640114
San Juan San Juan de la Maguana 3,569.39317,29389
San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís 1,255.46392,911313
Sánchez Ramírez Cotuí 1,196.13248,807208
Santiago Santiago de los Caballeros 2,836.511,543,362544
Santiago Rodríguez Sabaneta 1,111.1499,04489
Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Este 1,296.353,263,0532,517
Valverde Mao 823.38217,026264
Total 48,666.8312,935,223266

Map

See also

References
  1. Asamblea Nacional. "CONSTITUCION DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  2. 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. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  3. EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley Electoral, No. 275-97" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  4. Consejo Nacional de Población y Familia. "Estamaciones y Proyecciones de la Población Dominicana por Regiones, Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales, 2014" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  5. Oficina Nacional de Estadística. "República Dominicana en Cifras 2006" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
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