The following lists give the communes of France within each department:
Overseas departments (département d'outre-mer or DOM):
| Department | List of communes | |
|---|---|---|
| 971 | Guadeloupe | Communes of the Guadeloupe department |
| 972 | Martinique | Communes of the Martinique department |
| 973 | Guyane | Communes of French Guiana |
| 974 | Réunion | Communes of the Réunion department |
| 976 | Mayotte | Communes of Mayotte |
Overseas collectivities (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM):
| Division | List of communes | |
|---|---|---|
| 975 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | Miquelon-Langlade Saint-Pierre |
| 987 | French Polynesia (Polynésie française) | Administrative divisions of French Polynesia |
| 988 | New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie) | Administrative divisions of New Caledonia |
The politics of Mayotte takes place in a framework of a French overseas region and department, until 2011 an overseas collectivity. Local politics takes place in a parliamentary representative democratic setting whereby the President of the General Council is the head of government, of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. The status of Mayotte changed in 2001 towards one very close to the status of the départements of mainland France, with the particular designation of collectivité départementale, although the island is still claimed by the Comoros. This change was approved by 73% in a referendum on Mayotte. After the constitutional reform of 2003 it became a collectivité d'outre-mer while keeping the title collectivité départementale de Mayotte. Mayotte became an overseas department of France on 31 March 2011 following the result of the March 2009 Mahoran status referendum, which was overwhelmingly approved by around 95% of voters.
France is divided into eighteen administrative regions, of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France, while the other five are overseas regions.
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, abbreviated INSEE or Insee, is the national statistics bureau of France. It collects and publishes information about the French economy and people and carries out the periodic national census. Headquartered in Montrouge, a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, it is the French branch of Eurostat. The INSEE was created in 1946 as a successor to the Vichy regime's National Statistics Service (SNS). It works in close cooperation with the Institut national d'études démographiques (INED).
The overseas departments and regions of France are departments of the French Republic which are outside the continental Europe situated portion of France, known as "metropolitan France". The distant parts have exactly the same status as mainland France's regions and departments. The French Constitution provides that, in general, French laws and regulations apply to French overseas regions the same as in metropolitan France, but can be adapted as needed to suit the region's particular needs. Hence, the local administrations of French overseas regions cannot themselves pass new laws. On occasion referendums are undertaken to re-assess the sentiment in local status.
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in the United States and Canada, Gemeinden in Germany, comuni in Italy, or municipios in Spain. The UK equivalent are civil parishes. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and are vested with significant powers to manage the populations and land of the geographic area covered. The communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France.
The administrative divisions of France are concerned with the institutional and territorial organization of French territory. These territories are located in many parts of the world. There are many administrative divisions, which may have political, electoral (districts), or administrative objectives. All the inhabited territories are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council and their citizens have French citizenship and elect the President of France.
A territorial collectivity, or territorial authority, in many francophone countries, is a legal entity governed by public law that exercises within its territory certain powers devolved to it by the State as part of a decentralization process. In France, it also refers to a chartered administrative division of France with recognized governing authority. It is the generic name for any territory with an elective form of local government and local regulatory authority. The nature of a French territorial collectivity is set forth in Article 72 of the Constitution of France (1958), which provides for local autonomy within limits prescribed by law.
La Première is a French network of radio and television stations operating in France's overseas departments and collectivities around the world.
The term overseas territory is an administrative division of France and is currently only applied to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Overseas country is the designation for the overseas collectivity of French Polynesia. French Polynesia was an overseas territory until the constitutional reform on 28 March 2003 created the overseas collectivities. Then, on 27 February 2004, a law was passed giving French Polynesia the particular designation of overseas country while recalling that it belongs to the category of overseas collectivities. However, the Constitutional Council of France ruled that this description was merely a designation and not a legal status, as that would have been unconstitutional.
The French overseas collectivities are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French overseas entities with a particular status, all of which became COMs by constitutional reform on 28 March 2003. The COMs differ from overseas regions and overseas departments, which have the same status as metropolitan France but are located outside Europe. As integral parts of France, overseas collectivities are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council. Though some are outside the European Union, all can vote to elect members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The Pacific COMs use the CFP franc, a currency pegged to the euro, whereas the Atlantic COMs use the euro itself. As of 31 March 2011, there were five COMs:
The franc was the currency of French Guiana until 2002. The French franc circulated alongside banknotes issued specifically for French Guiana between 1888 and 1961 and notes issued for French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique between 1961 and 1975.
Overseas France consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonization. Some, but not all, are part of the European Union. "Overseas France" is a collective name; while used in everyday life in France, it is not an administrative designation in its own right. Instead, the five overseas regions have exactly the same administrative status as the metropolitan regions; the five overseas collectivities are semi-autonomous; and New Caledonia is an autonomous territory. Overseas France includes island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, French Guiana on the South American continent, and several peri-Antarctic islands as well as a claim in Antarctica. Excluding the district of Adélie Land, where French sovereignty is effective de jure by French law, but where the French exclusive claim on this part of Antarctica is frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, overseas France covers a land area of 120,396 km2 (46,485 sq mi) and accounts for 18.0% of the French Republic's land territory. Its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 9,825,538 km2 (3,793,661 sq mi) accounts for 96.7% of the EEZ of the French Republic.
The Archives nationales d'outre-mer in Aix-en-Provence is a branch of the Archives Nationales of France that documents the French colonial empire. According to one scholar, "half the history of France overseas was represented in the mass of papers" first assembled in Aix in 1966. The materials originated in various offices and repositories scattered throughout the colonies. The Dépôt des Archives d'Outre-Mer opened in 1966, and its successor, the Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer, in 1987. It was later renamed the "Archives nationales d'outre-mer." Its facilities occupy a site near the Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I.