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 ...

is divided into 16

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

s (in Spanish, ''regiones''; singular ), which are the country's first-level administrative division. Each region is headed by directly elected regional governor (''gobernador regional'') and a regional board (''consejo regional''). The regions are divided into

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s (the second-level administrative division), each headed by a governor (''gobernador'') appointed by the President. There are 56 provinces in total. Provinces are divided into communes (the third and lowest level administrative division), which are governed by

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 ...

Naming

Each region was given a

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

, followed by a name (e.g. ''IV Región de Coquimbo'', read as "fourth region of Coquimbo" in Spanish). When the regional structure was created, Roman numerals were assigned in ascending order from north to south, with the northernmost region designated as I (first) and the southernmost region as XII (twelfth). The

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

, located in the center of the country and home to the country's capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, was excluded from this naming scheme and given instead the initials RM, standing for ''Región Metropolitana'' ("Metropolitan Region" in Spanish). With the creation of regions XIV ( Los Ríos Region) and XVI ( Ñuble Region) in the south and XV ( Arica y Parinacota Region) in the north ( XIII was not used) in 2007, the north-south Roman numeral order was broken. In February 2018, the ''Strengthening of Regionalization Law'' (Law 21074) was enacted. Among other things, it removed the

roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

from the designations.

History of the regional structure

The administrative divisions of Chile were created in 1974 and limited to 13 regions (this limitation was eliminated in 2005 via a constitutional reform). Previously, Chile was divided into 25 provinces, which were further divided into departments, and then into communes. The new territorial organization was implemented in phases with some initial "pilot regions" beginning to operate in 1974, extending the process on January 1, 1976, to the rest of the country. The Santiago Metropolitan Region began to operate in April 1980. In December 2006, two new regions were created: the northern Arica and Parinacota Region, by taking out the two northernmost provinces from the

Tarapacá Region The Tarapacá Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order Administrative divisions of Chile, administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Iquique Province, Iquique and Tamarugal Province, Tamarugal. It borders the Chilean Arica y Par ...

; and Los Ríos Region in the south, encompassing the provinces of

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

, formerly part of the

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( , 'Region of the Lakes') is one of regions of Chile, Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé Province, Chiloé, Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, Osorno Provin ...

, and Ranco, formerly part of Valdivia. Both regions became operative in October 2007. In August 2017, the Ñuble Region was created from what was then the Ñuble Province of the

Biobío Region The Biobío Region ( ) is one of Chile's sixteen regions (first-order administrative divisions). With a population of 1.5 million, thus being the third most populated region in Chile, it is divided into three provinces: Arauco, Biobío and C ...

. The old province was divided into three new provinces: Diguillín, Punilla and Itata. The new region's capital is

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Ñuble Region, Diguillín Province, Chile, located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the center of the country. It has been the capital of the new Ñuble Region since ...

. It became operational in September 2018.

Administration

Since their creation, each region is headed by an

intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

(intendente) appointed by the President of Chile, and a regional board (consejo regional). The intendants count with the direct collaboration of the SEREMI (Ministerial Regional secretary) in specific matters, such as public health, education, agriculture, among others. The SEREMI are appointed by the President. Thanks to the Strengthening of Regionalization Law, since the 2020 municipal elections each intendant will be elected at the same date along with the mayors and municipal councillors, using a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. If no candidate obtains the minimum threshold 40% of the valid votes, a runoff election is held between the two candidates with the most votes, and the winner is elected by a simple majority. Also the law will change the name ''Intendant'' to ''Regional Governor'' (Gobernador regional). The President will appoint a Regional presidential delegate (delegado presidencial regional), who will represent the national government in the region. The board was elected among the members of the municipal councils (consejo municipal) of each commune of the respective region. Since the 2013 election the regional board members (Consejero regional) are directly elected using an

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a Political party, party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, in which party lists ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

, with seats allocated using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

. Each of the 54 provinces are headed by a governor (gobernador) appointed by the President. In 2020, the provincial governors will change their name to ''Provincial presidential delegate (delegado presidencial provincial), still appointed by the President.

List of regions

References

{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of South American countries

External links

Regions of Chile
Subdivisions of Chile Regions, Chile