Alto del Carmen is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an commune and village in Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The commune spans an area of . The commune has an economy based on agriculture, in particular grapes for pisco, and mining. The discovery of valuable black marble in the commune was announced on January 2025.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Alto del Carmen had 4,840 inhabitants (2,629 men and 2,211 women), making the commune an entirely

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

. The population grew by 2% (95 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The 2024 census showed that the commune is both the poorest and the one with the oldest population (average age 43 years) in Atacama Region. As of 2024 a third of the homes in the commune lacks one of more of the following; electricity connection, sewage system or potable water.

Administration

As a commune, Alto del Carmen is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

, headed by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

who is directly elected every four years. Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Alto del Carmen is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

by Mr. Alberto Robles ( PRSD) and Mr. Giovanni Calderón ( UDI) as part of the 6th electoral district, (together with

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, Tierra Amarilla, Vallenar, Freirina and Huasco). The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Isabel Allende Bussi ( PS) and Baldo Prokurica Prokurica ( RN) as part of the 3rd senatorial constituency (Atacama Region).

References

External links

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Municipality of Alto del Carmen
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Huasco Province