Catalonia, referring to the autonomous community in Spain, is territorially divided into numerous types and levels of subdivisions with varying administrative, organisational and cultural functions.
The official first-level regional distribution in Catalonia, configured through the Statute of Autonomy of 2006, is the vegueria (Catalan pronunciation: [bəɣəˈɾi.ə] ), owing its name to the feudal jurisdiction of the former Principality of Catalonia. [1] [2]
Regulated by the Vegueries Law, approved on 27 July 2010 in Parliament, they aim to form vegueria councils and become a full administrative division, [3] although the law has been ruled unconstitutional by the Spanish Constitutional Court, as it replaces functions performed by Spanish provinces (). [4] [5] Thus, in practice, despite being official, vegueries are not allowed to carry the administrative powers of the provinces and currently remain only usable for similar territorial deployments to those carried out by the areas, e.g. government services, weather reports, commercial distribution, media coverage, curfew during the COVID-19 pandemic, television frequencies, etc. [4]
There are eight vegueries since 2017. The Aran Valley is not part of any vegueria, as it has been an autonomous region since 2015. [6] [7] There are a number of proposals to create a ninth vegueria around the Alt Ter region. [8]
Predating the vegueries and for statistical purposes, Catalonia is also divided in "functional territorial areas" (Catalan: àmbits funcionals territorials; Aranese Occitan: encastres foncionaus territoriaus). [9] These were stablished in 1995 by the Catalan General Territorial Plan . They are largely the same as the vegueries, with mostly identical names, with the main exception being that the Aran Valley is included within Alt Pirineu in the Alt Pirineu i Aran area. [6]
Catalonia's counties [9] (Catalan: comarques,Catalan pronunciation: [kuˈmarkə] ) form the second-level division and are a subdivision of the vegueries.
There are 42 administrative counties since 2023. [9] Aran was a county until 2015, when it formally became an autonomous region, but it is still often included in county lists and maps as one. [7] Each comarca has a representative county council (Catalan: consell comarcal), except for Barcelonès, which abolished it in 2019, and Lluçanès, which, having only been established in 2023, will not have one until the 2027 local elections. [10]
Counties often include cultural subdivisions known as sub-counties (Catalan: subcomarques), with no administrative value. Some of these were proposed as new administrative counties in the 2001 Roca report :
In 2015, Moianès achieved full administrative county status, [11] followed by Lluçanès in 2023. [12]
The autonomous community of Catalonia is formed from the union of the four Spanish provinces (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: províncies) of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. These were codified during the 1833 territorial division of Spain. Although the vegueries were created to replace the provinces, [5] all government, constituency and administration tasks remain constitutionally attributed to the provincial councils (Catalan: diputacions; Aranese Occitan: deputacions). [13]
Unlike vegueries, provinces only follow municipal boundaries and not county ones. This creates some rupture points, notably the county of Baixa Cerdanya, which is broken in half, with the western section administratively belonging to the province of Lleida and the eastern one to the province of Girona. Situations like this have led some isolated municipalities to request a change of provincial boundaries from the Spanish government in order to solve problems in accessing services. One such case is Gósol (Berguedà), the sole municipality in the county that belongs to the province of Lleida, while the rest fall within the province of Barcelona. [14]
Catalans often refer to the provinces in everyday language or in the media as 'demarcations' (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: demarcacions), [15] [16] [17] attributed by some to their lack of identification or cultural significance. [18]
The municipalities (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: municipis) constitute the third-level division. In 2024, there were 947 municipalities. [19] Municipalities are run by a council (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: ajuntament) elected through Spain-wide local elections, which then elects a mayor (Catalan: batlle (batle in Terres de l'Ebre); Aranese Occitan: baile).
Unlike other Catalan-speaking territories in Spain, all municipalities in the autonomous community of Catalonia have their names officially in the Catalan language (or in Aranese Occitan, in Aran), but some still use non-standard Castilianised names, such as Cabassers, officially spelled 'Cabacés'. [20]
Municipalities are sometimes further subdivided into:
The Aran Valley, being a self-governing region within Catalonia (officially a 'unique territorial entity'; Aranese Occitan: entitat territoriau singulara; Catalan: entitat territorial singular) instead of a regular county, as well as a part of the Occitan cultural realm, represents a unique position in the Catalan regional configuration. [7]
Its autonomous government, the General Council of Aran (Aranese Occitan: Conselh Generau d'Aran) was formed in 1991. Originally, it was a mere additional county until the new Aranese law of 2015, which promoted this status, as well as notably recognising its symbols and anthem, giving priority to the Occitan language in administrative matters, and granting the valley the right to self-determination. [7] [21] [22] Furthermore, by extension, it ensured that Aran would not fall within the Alt Pirineu region. [6]
Terçons are an administrative and electoral subdivision exclusive to Aran. The valley is divided in six terçons. [23]
Like the rest of Catalonia, the valley is also divided into municipalities. Aran is composed of nine municipalities, two of which (Vielha e Mijaran and Naut Aran) cover several terçons. [24]
First-level division | Second-level division | Functional area | Spanish province | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Designation | Location | Name | Capital | Population (2023) [9] | Main admin. language | County | County seat | Flag | Coat of arms | Population (2023) [9] | Code [25] | ||
vegueria | Alt Pirineu | La Seu d'Urgell (de facto) [a] | 65,998 | Catalan | Alt Urgell | La Seu d'Urgell | - | 21,128 | AU / 04 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida | ||
Alta Ribagorça | El Pont de Suert | - | - | 4,040 | AG / 05 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida | ||||||
Baixa Cerdanya | Puigcerdà | - | 20,115 | CD / 15 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida (west) Girona (east) | |||||||
Pallars Jussà | Tremp | - | 13,383 | PJ / 25 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida | |||||||
Pallars Sobirà | Sort | 7,332 | PS / 26 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida | ||||||||
Barcelona | Barcelona | 5,066,684 | Catalan | Baix Llobregat | Sant Feliu de Llobregat | - | - | 848,827 | BT / 11 | Metropolità | Barcelona | ||
Barcelonès | Barcelona | - | - | 2,354,301 | BR / 13 | Metropolità | Barcelona | ||||||
Maresme | Mataró | - | 472,572 | MM / 21 | Metropolità | Barcelona | |||||||
Vallès Occidental | Sabadell, Terrassa [b] | - | - | 960,033 | VC / 40 | Metropolità | Barcelona | ||||||
Vallès Oriental | Granollers | - | - | 426,653 | VR / 41 | Metropolità | Barcelona | ||||||
Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | 555,957 | Catalan | Alt Camp | Valls | - | 46,388 | AC / 01 | Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | |||
Baix Camp | Reus | 204,458 | BC / 08 | Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | ||||||||
Conca de Barberà | Montblanc | 20,569 | CB / 16 | Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | ||||||||
Priorat | Falset | - | 9,420 | PR / 29 | Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | |||||||
Tarragonès | Tarragona | - | - | 275,122 | TR / 36 | Camp de Tarragona | Tarragona | ||||||
Central Catalonia | Manresa (de facto) [a] | 427,296 | Catalan | Bages | Manresa | - | - | 185,352 | BG / 07 | Comarques Centrals | Barcelona | ||
Berguedà | Berga | 41,058 | BD / 14 | Comarques Centrals | Barcelona | ||||||||
Lluçanès | Prats de Lluçanès | - | - | 5,718 | N/A [c] / 43 | Comarques Centrals | Barcelona | ||||||
Moianès | Moià | - | - | 14,758 | MO / 42 | Comarques Centrals | Barcelona | ||||||
Osona | Vic | 164,006 | OS / 24 | Comarques Centrals | Barcelona | ||||||||
Solsonès | Solsona | - | - | 15,323 | SL / 35 | Comarques Centrals | Lleida | ||||||
Girona | Girona | 804,851 | Catalan | Alt Empordà | Figueres | 148,732 | AE / 02 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||
Baix Empordà | La Bisbal d'Empordà | - | - | 143,443 | BM / 10 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Garrotxa | Olot | - | - | 62,449 | GX / 19 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Gironès | Girona | - | - | 205,573 | GN / 20 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Pla de l'Estany | Banyoles | - | - | 33,564 | PE / 28 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Ripollès | Ripoll | - | - | 25,826 | RI / 31 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Selva | Santa Coloma de Farners | - | - | 185,264 | SV / 34 | Comarques Gironines | Girona | ||||||
Penedès | Vilanova i la Geltrú (de facto) [a] | 517,499 | Catalan | Alt Penedès | Vilafranca del Penedès | - | - | 114,189 | AP / 03 | Penedès | Barcelona | ||
Anoia [d] | Igualada | 128,432 | AI / 06 | Penedès [d] | Barcelona | ||||||||
Baix Penedès | El Vendrell | - | - | 118,350 | BP / 12 | Penedès | Barcelona | ||||||
Garraf | Vilanova i la Geltrú | - | - | 161,907 | GA / 17 | Penedès | Barcelona | ||||||
Ponent | Lleida | 375,964 | Catalan | Garrigues | Les Borges Blanques | 19,075 | GG / 18 | Ponent | Lleida | ||||
Noguera | Balaguer | 39,727 | NG / 23 | Ponent | Lleida | ||||||||
Pla d'Urgell | Mollerussa | 38,111 | PU / 27 | Ponent | Lleida | ||||||||
Segarra | Cervera | - | 22,667 | SR / 32 | Ponent | Lleida | |||||||
Segrià | Lleida | 217,853 | SI / 33 | Ponent | Lleida | ||||||||
Urgell | Tàrrega | 38,531 | UR / 38 | Ponent | Lleida | ||||||||
Terres de l'Ebre | Tortosa | 187,437 | Catalan | Baix Ebre | Tortosa | 82,399 | BB / 09 | Terres de l'Ebre | Tarragona | ||||
Montsià | Amposta | - | 71,460 | MT / 22 | Terres de l'Ebre | Tarragona | |||||||
Ribera d'Ebre | Móra d'Ebre | - | 22,132 | RE / 30 | Terres de l'Ebre | Tarragona | |||||||
Terra Alta | Gandesa | - | 11,446 | TT / 37 | Terres de l'Ebre | Tarragona | |||||||
unique territorial entity | Aran Valley | Vielha e Mijaran | 10,545 | Occitan | - | 10,545 | VN / 38 | Alt Pirineu i Aran | Lleida |
Many Catalan cities are divided into neighbourhoods (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: barris). In the case of Barcelona, the city has a higher level of administrative division than the neighbourhoods, which are the districts (Catalan: districtes). Each district has autonomy and capacity for decision-making and economic management. They are governed by a district municipal council that coordinates the district's services and resources. [26]
The census areas (Catalan: seccions censals; Aranese Occitan: seccions censaus) are a subdivision of municipalities and districts, used for census purposes, organisation of electoral processes or collection of statistical data. [27] These areas may comprise a maximum of 2,000 electors and a minimum of 500. [28]
The health areas (Catalan and Aranese Occitan: regions sanitàries) are an arrangement of the CatSalut service to optimise medical care for all municipalities. They are largely similar to the functional territorial areas, with the Barcelona region being further divided into North, South and City. [29] [30]
Catalonia's police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, manage operations and services through nine police regions (Catalan: regions policials; Aranese Occitan: regions policères). [31]
These regions are also similar to functional territorial areas, with the Barcelona region being divided into North, South and City, while northern Penedès is incorporated into the Central region and southern Penedès into the South Barcelona region. Each of these areas is further subdivided into 'basic police areas' (Catalan: àrees bàsiques policials; Aranese Occitan: airaus basics policèrs; ABP). [31]
Similar to the rest of the Spanish state, Catalonia is divided into 49 judicial districts (Catalan: partits judicials; Aranese Occitan: partits judiciaus) for the purpose of justice administration. These adhere to the province boundaries. [32]
Following the fall of al-Andalus in Catalonia, the supremacy of the county of Barcelona was consolidated, whose count became sovereign. The veguers exercised the delegation of royal power within their vegueries. The earliest known division of 1304 lists eighteen of them, while the last one of 1720 contains fifteen with eight veguers. [33]
Following the Nueva Planta decrees, the Principality of Catalonia became a province divided into twelve Castilian corregimientos (Barcelona, Cervera, Girona, Lleida, Manresa, Mataró, Puigcerdà, Talarn, Tarragona, Tortosa, Vic and Vilafranca del Penedès) and one district (Aran). The new division was based on the former vegueries, removing those of Agramunt, Balaguer, Tàrrega, Camprodon and Montblanc. [34]
Following the brief annexation of both the Spanish territory of Catalonia and Andorra by Napoleonic France, it was divided in four departments, along with Northern Catalonia, which remained in Pyrénées-Orientales: [35]
Aran was incorporated into the Haute-Garonne department.
The Study Report for the Territorial Division of Catalonia (Catalan: Ponència d'Estudi de la Divisió Territorial de Catalunya) was created by a decree in October 1931. In November 1931, a questionnaire was addressed to all municipal councils consolidating the first instance of the division of Catalonia into counties and vegueries. The division was approved in 1936, with some minor changes and labelling the regions with numerals. The division was operational until the removal of all Catalan autonomy by the Francoist regime after the end of the Spanish Civil War. [36]
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory is situated on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 43 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.
The comarques of Catalonia, often referred to in English as counties, are an administrative division of Catalonia. Each comarca comprises a number of municipalities, roughly equivalent to a county in the United States. Currently, Catalonia is divided into 42 comarques and Aran, considered a "unique territorial entity" and not a comarca.
Aran is an autonomous administrative entity in northwest Catalonia, Spain, consisting of 620.47 square kilometres (239.56 sq mi) in area, located in the Pyrenees mountains, in the Alt Pirineu i Aran region and in the province of Lleida. The capital is Vielha e Mijaran.
El Pont de Suert is a town and municipality in Catalonia. It is the capital of Alta Ribagorça county in the Alt Pirineu region. It is located at 838 metres above sea level, on the banks of river Noguera Ribagorçana, a tributary to the Segre. In 2022, it had a population of 2,336.
The Province of Lleida is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. It lies in northeastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, and is bordered by the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zaragoza and Huesca and the country of France and the principality of Andorra. It is often popularly referred to as Ponent.
Aranese is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the Spanish border with France, where it is one of the three official languages beside Catalan and Spanish. In 2010, it was declared the third official language in Catalonia by the Parliament of Catalonia.
Camp de Tarragona is a natural and historical region, as well as one of the nine regions (vegueries) of Catalonia. It is the third most populated region, with 536,453 inhabitants as of 2022.
A vegueria, plural vegueries, is the highest-level regional division of Catalonia. Each vegueria is further divided into comarques and municipalities. As of 2025, the Catalan Vegueries Law divides the territory into eight vegueries. The autonomous Aran Valley, considered a "unique territorial entity", is not part of any of vegueria.
Naut Aran is a municipality in eastern Aran, Catalonia. It had 1,923 inhabitants as of 2022. It is located in the terçons of Arties e Garòs and Pujòlo.
Alt Pirineu is one of the nine regions (vegueries) of Catalonia.
Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona, also referred to as the vegueria of Barcelona, is one of the nine regions (vegueries) of Catalonia.
Central Catalonia, also known as Comarques Centrals, is one of the nine regions (vegueries) of Catalonia.
Comarques Gironines or the Girona region is the northeasternmost of the nine regions (vegueries) of Catalonia. It has an area of 5,558 km² and 761,690 inhabitants as of 2022.
Ponent, also known as the Lleida region following the vegueries law, is the westernmost of the eight regions (vegueries) defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It has an area of 5,586 km2, and 365,289 inhabitants as of 2022.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Catalonia:
Penedès is one of the eight regions (vegueries) defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. Located in south of Catalonia, it includes the comarques from historical Penedès region, along with the southern municipalities of Anoia. It had 497.764 inhabitants as of 2022. It was approved as a region in February 2017.
The terçons form the geographical subdivision of the Aran Valley, in Catalonia. It was in use from the granting of the Querimonia, in 1313, until its abolition in 1833 with the Spanish provincial division. It was then traditionally maintained in common use as an identity element until its restoration in 1990 as a constituency for the General Council of Aran.
Alt Ter is a natural region and proposed vegueria by the Ter river in Catalonia.
Television in Catalonia, in reference to the autonomous community of Spain, is made up of television channels broadcast exclusively in Catalonia, whether for the whole of Catalonia or for certain regions and counties, as well as state-wide Spanish channels, which may or may not have disconnections from the general feed with exclusive programmes for Catalonia.
Northern Catalonia is traditionally divided into five historical comarques (counties). These counties formed part of the Principality of Catalonia until the territory was incorporated into France following the Treaty of the Pyrenees, with Cerdanya county split between Spain and France. After the French Revolution, the current department of Pyrénées-Orientales was created, comprising the Northern Catalan counties along with part of the Occitan parçan of Fenouillèdes (Fenolhedés).
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