View source for Communes of France

{{Short description|French territorial subdivision for municipalities}}
{{Other uses|Communal (disambiguation)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Original research|date=January 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2020}}
{{Disputed|date=December 2022}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}

{{Infobox subdivision type
| name = Communes of France
| map = [[File:FR-communes-2020.png|450px|Map of communes of metropolitan France]]
| category = [[Municipality]]
| territory = [[France|French Republic]]
| upper_unit = [[Departments of France|Departments]]
| current_number = 34,965 ([[lists of communes of France|list]])
| number_date = January 2021
| population_range = 1 ([[Rochefourchat]]) – 2,175,601 ([[Paris]])
| area_range = 0.04 km<sup>2</sup> ([[Castelmoron-d'Albret]]) – 18,360 km<sup>2</sup> ([[Maripasoula]])
| government = [[Municipal council (France)|Municipal council]]
| subdivision = 
}}

{{Administrative divisions of France}}

A '''{{Lang|fr|commune|italic=no}}''' ({{IPA|fr|kɔmyn|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-commune.wav}}) is a level of [[administrative divisions of France|administrative division]] in the [[France|French Republic]]. French {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are analogous to [[civil township]]s and incorporated [[municipality|municipalities]] in Canada and the United States; ''{{Lang|de|[[municipalities of Germany|Gemeinden]]}}'' in Germany; ''{{lang|it|[[comune|comuni]]}}'' in Italy; ''{{Lang|es|[[municipalities of Spain|municipios]]}}'' in Spain; or [[civil parish]]es in the United Kingdom. {{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} 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 {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France.
 
{{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} vary widely in size and area, from large sprawling cities with millions of inhabitants like [[Paris]], to small [[hamlet (place)|hamlets]] with only a handful of inhabitants. {{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|lieu dit}} or {{lang|fr|bourg}}), the difference residing in the lack of administrative powers. Except for the [[Municipal arrondissements of France|municipal arrondissements]] of its largest cities, the {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are the lowest level of administrative division in France and are governed by elected officials including a [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] (''{{Lang|fr|maire}}'') and a [[Municipal council (France)|municipal council]] (''{{Lang|fr|conseil municipal}}''). They have extensive autonomous powers to implement national policy.

== Terminology ==
A ''{{lang|fr|commune}}'' is the smallest and oldest [[Administrative divisions of France|administrative division in France]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c1468 |title=Définition: Commune |access-date=4 July 2022 |publisher=[[Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques]] |language=fr |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706213927/https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c1468 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The French word ''{{lang|fr|commune}}'' appeared in the 12th century, from [[Medieval Latin]] ''{{lang|la|[[Medieval commune|communia]]}}'', for a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|communis}}'', 'things held in common'.

== Characteristics == 

=== Number of communes ===
As of January 2021, there were 35,083 communes in [[France]], of which 34,836 were in [[metropolitan France]], 129 in the [[Overseas departments and regions of France|overseas departments]], and 83 in the [[Overseas collectivity|overseas collectivities]] and [[New Caledonia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectivites-locales.gouv.fr/files/Accueil/DESL/2021/Colloc%20en%20chiffres/CL_en_chiffres_2021.pdf|title=Les collectivités locales en chiffres 2021|publisher=Direction générale des collectivités locales|access-date=4 July 2022|language=fr|page=18|archive-date=22 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522235153/https://www.collectivites-locales.gouv.fr/files/Accueil/DESL/2021/Colloc%20en%20chiffres/CL_en_chiffres_2021.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This is a considerably higher total than that of any other [[European country]], because French communes still largely reflect the division of France into villages or parishes at the time of the [[French Revolution]].

{| style="margin-auto"
|+ '''Evolution of the number of communes'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://projetbabel.org/gl/cog.pdf|title=Le code officiel géographique (COG), avant, pendant et autour (Version 3, volume 1)|publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]|access-date=2008-06-27|language=fr|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202309/http://projetbabel.org/gl/cog.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| valign=top |
{| class="wikitable" style="width:350px; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:40%;"| !! style="width:30%;"|Metropolitan France<sup>(1)</sup>!! style="width:30%;"|Overseas France<sup>(2)</sup>
|-
! March 1861
| align=center|37,510 || align=center|n/a
|-
! March 1866
| align=center|37,548 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 6 March 1921
| align=center|37,963 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 7 March 1926
| align=center|37,981 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 8 March 1931
| align=center|38,004 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 8 March 1936
| align=center|38,014 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 1 January 1947
| align=center|37,983 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 10 May 1954
| align=center|38,000 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 7 March 1962
| align=center|37,962 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 1 March 1968
| align=center|37,708 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 1 January 1971
| align=center|37,659 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 20 February 1975
| align=center|36,394 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 1 January 1978
| align=center|36,382 || align=center|n/a
|-
! 1 March 1982
| align=center|36,433 || align=center|211
|}
| valign=top |
{| class="wikitable" style="width:350px; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:40%;"| !! style="width:30%;"|Metropolitan France<sup>(1)</sup>!! style="width:30%;"|Overseas France<sup>(2)</sup>
|-
! 1 March 1985
| align=center|36,631 || align=center|211
|-
! 1 March 1990
| align=center|36,551 || align=center|212
|-
! 1 January 1999
| align=center|36,565 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2000
| align=center|36,567 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2001
| align=center|36,564 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2002
| align=center|36,566 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2003
| align=center|36,565 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2004
| align=center|36,569 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2005
| align=center|36,571 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2006
| align=center|36,572 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2007
| align=center|36,570 || align=center|214
|-
! 1 January 2008
| align=center|36,569 || align=center|212
|-
! 1 January 2021
| align=center|34,836 || align=center|212
|}
|-
| colspan=2 style="vertical-align:top; font-size:smaller"|
(1) Within the current limits of metropolitan France, which existed between 1860 and 1871 and from 1919 to today.<br />(2) Within the current extent of overseas France, which has remained unchanged since the independence of the [[New Hebrides]] in 1980.
|}

=== Population of a typical commune ===
The [[median]] population of metropolitan France's communes at the 1999 census was 380 inhabitants. Again this is a very small number, and here France stands absolutely apart in Europe, with the lowest communes' median population of all the European countries (communes in [[Switzerland]] or [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] may cover a smaller area, as mentioned above, but they are more populated). This small median population of French communes can be compared with Italy, where the median population of communes in 2001 was 2,343 inhabitants, [[Belgium]] (11,265 inhabitants), or even Spain (564 inhabitants).

The median population given here should not hide the fact that there are pronounced differences in size between French communes. As mentioned in the introduction, a commune can be a city of 2 million inhabitants such as Paris, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, or just a hamlet of 10 inhabitants. What the median population tells us is that the vast majority of the French communes only have a few hundred inhabitants, but there are also a small number of communes with much higher populations.

In metropolitan France 57 percent of the 36,683 communes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=t_0203R |title=Circonscriptions administrative au 1er janvier 2015: comparaisons régionales |trans-title=Administrative constituencies of 1 January 2015: regional comparisons |language=fr |publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]] |access-date=5 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430033500/http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=t_0203R |archive-date=30 April 2014}}</ref> have fewer than 500 inhabitants and, with 4,638,000 inhabitants, these smaller communes constitute just 7.7 percent of the total population. In other words, just 8 percent of the French population live in 57 percent of its communes, whilst 92 percent are concentrated in the remaining 43 percent.

=== Example: Alsace ===
[[Alsace]], with an area of {{convert|8,280|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, and now part of the Région Grand Est, used to be the smallest of the [[regions of France|regions]] of [[metropolitan France]], and still has no fewer than 904 communes. This high number is typical of metropolitan France but is atypical when compared with other European countries. It shows the distinctive nature of the French commune as a geo-political or administrative entity.

With its 904 communes, Alsace has three times as many municipalities as [[Sweden]], which has a much larger territory covering {{convert|449,964|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and yet is divided into only 290 municipalities ([[Municipalities of Sweden|''kommuner'']]). Alsace has more than double the total number of municipalities of the [[Netherlands]] which, in spite of having a population nine times larger and a land area four times larger than Alsace, is divided into just 390 municipalities ({{Lang|nl|[[Municipalities of the Netherlands|gemeenten]]}}).

Most of the communes in Alsace, along with those in other regions of France, have rejected the central government's calls for mergers and rationalization. By way of contrast, in the [[States of Germany|German states]] bordering Alsace, the geo-political and administrative areas have been subject to various re-organizations from the 1960s onward. In the state of [[Baden-Württemberg]], the number of ''Gemeinden'' or communities was reduced from 3,378 in 1968<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landtag-bw.de/wp12/drucksachen/5000/12_5490_d.pdf |title=25 Jahre Gemeindereform Baden-Württemberg; hier: Neuordnung der Gemeinden |author=Parliament (Landtag) of Baden-Württemberg |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128211923/http://www.landtag-bw.de/wp12/drucksachen/5000/12_5490_d.pdf |archive-date=28 November 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to 1,108 in September 2007.<ref name=German_Gemeinden>{{cite web |url=http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/dtland/dtland.htm |title=Gemeinden in Deutschland |author=gemeindeverzeichnis.de |access-date=2008-06-27 |language=de |archive-date=16 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016132547/http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/dtland/dtland.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In comparison, the number of communes in Alsace was only reduced from 946 in 1971<ref>{{cite web |url=http://splaf.free.fr/67his.html |title=Historique du Bas-Rhin |author=SPLAF |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=fr |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722175315/http://splaf.free.fr/67his.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://splaf.free.fr/68his.html |title=Historique du Haut-Rhin |author=SPLAF |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=fr |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722175320/http://splaf.free.fr/68his.html |url-status=live }}</ref> (just before the Marcellin law aimed at encouraging French communes to merge with each other was passed, see [[Communes of France#Current debate|Current debate]] section below) to 904 in January 2007. Consequently, the Alsace region—despite having a land area only one-fifth the size and a total population only one-sixth of that of its neighbor Baden-Württemberg—has almost as many municipalities. The small Alsace region has more than double the number of municipalities compared to the large and populous state of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] (396 ''Gemeinden'' in September 2007).

=== Status of the communes ===
Despite differences in population, each of the communes of the French Republic possesses a [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] (''maire'') and a [[City council (France)|municipal council]] (''conseil municipal''), which jointly manage the commune from the [[City hall (administration)|municipal hall]] (''mairie''), with exactly the same powers no matter the size of the commune. This uniformity of status is a legacy of the French Revolution, which wanted to do away with the local idiosyncrasies and tremendous differences in status that existed in the kingdom of France.

French law makes allowances for the vast differences in commune size in a number of areas of administrative law. The size of the municipal council, the method of electing the municipal council, the maximum allowable pay of the mayor and deputy mayors, and municipal campaign finance limits (among other features) all depend on the population echelon into which a particular commune falls.

Since the PLM Law of 1982, three French communes also have a special status in that they are further divided into [[Municipal arrondissement in France|municipal arrondissements]]: these are Paris, [[Marseille]], and [[Lyon]]. The [[municipal arrondissement]] is the only administrative unit below the commune in the French Republic but exists only in these three communes. These municipal arrondissements are not to be confused with the [[French arrondissements|arrondissements]] that are subdivisions of French ''départements'': French communes are considered [[Juristic person|legal entities]], whereas municipal arrondissements, by contrast, have no official capacity and no budget of their own.

The rights and obligations of communes are governed by the ''Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT)'' which replaced the ''Code des communes'' (except for personnel matters) with the passage of the law of 21 February 1996 for legislation and decree number 2000-318 of 7 April 2000 for regulations.<ref>[http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html Legislation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103093724/http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html |date=3 January 2005}}</ref><ref>[http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRM.html Decree] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050112200608/http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRM.html |date=12 January 2005}}</ref>

From 1794 to 1977 — except for a few months in 1848 and 1870-1871 — Paris had no mayor and was thus directly controlled by the departmental prefect. This meant that Paris had less autonomy than certain towns or villages. Even after Paris regained the right to elect its own mayor in 1977, the central government retained control of the Paris police. In all other French communes, the [[municipal police]] are under the mayor's supervision.

== History ==
French communes were created at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789–1790.

=== Kingdom of France ===

==== Parishes ====
{{more cn section |find=ancien regime |find2="parishes" communes |date=March 2025}}

Before the revolution, France's lowest level of administrative division was the parish (''paroisse''), and there were up to 60,000 of them in the kingdom. A parish was essentially a church, the houses around it (known as the village), and the cultivated land around the village. France was the most populous country in Europe at this time, with a population of approximately 25 million inhabitants in the late 18th century ([[England]] in contrast had only 6 million inhabitants), which accounts for the large number of parishes. French kings often prided themselves on ruling over a "realm of 100,000 steeples".

Parishes lacked the municipal structures of post-Revolution communes. Usually, one contained only a building committee (''[[conseil de fabrique]]''), made up of villagers, which managed the buildings of the parish church, the churchyard, and the other numerous church estates and properties, and sometimes also provided help for the poor, or even administered parish hospitals or schools. Since the [[Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts]] of 1539 by [[Francis I of France|Francis I]], the priest in charge of the parish was also required to record baptisms, marriages, and burials. Except for these tasks, villages were left to handle other issues as they pleased. Typically, villagers would gather to decide over a special issue regarding the community, such as agricultural land usage, but there existed no permanent municipal body. In many places, the local feudal lord (''seigneur'') still had a major influence in the village's affairs, collecting taxes from tenant-villagers and ordering them to work the [[corvée]], controlling which fields were to be used and when, and how much of the harvest should be given to him.

==== Chartered cities ====
{{unsourced section |find=ancien regime |find2="chartered cities" |date=March 2025}}

Additionally, some cities had obtained [[charter]]s during the Middle Ages, either from the king himself or from local counts or dukes (such as the city of [[Toulouse]] chartered by the counts of Toulouse). These cities were made up of several parishes (up to {{circa}} 50 parishes in the case of Paris), and they were usually enclosed by a [[defensive wall]]. They had been emancipated from the power of feudal lords in the 12th and 13th centuries, had municipal bodies which administered the city, and bore some resemblance with the communes that the French Revolution would establish except for two key points:
* these municipal bodies were not democratic; they were usually in the hands of some rich bourgeois families upon whom, over time, nobility had been conferred, so they can be better labeled as [[oligarchies]] rather than municipal democracies.
* there was no uniform status for these chartered cities, each one having its own status and specific organization.

In the north, cities tended to be administered by ''échevins'' (from an old Germanic word meaning judge), while in the south, cities tended to be administered by ''consuls'' (in a clear reference to Roman antiquity), but [[Bordeaux]] was administered by ''[[jurat]]s'' (etymologically meaning "sworn men") and Toulouse by ''capitouls'' ("men of the chapter"). Usually, there was no mayor in the modern sense; all the ''échevins'' or ''consuls'' were on equal footing, and rendered decisions collegially. However, for certain purposes, there was one ''échevin'' or ''consul'' ranking above the others, a sort of mayor, although not with the same authority and executive powers as a modern mayor. This "mayor" was called [[Provost (civil)|provost of the merchants]] (''prévôt des marchands'') in Paris and Lyon; ''maire'' in Marseille, Bordeaux, [[Rouen]], [[Orléans]], [[Bayonne]] and many other cities and towns; ''mayeur'' in [[Lille]]; ''premier capitoul'' in Toulouse; ''viguier'' in [[Montpellier]]; ''premier consul'' in many towns of southern France; ''prêteur royal'' in [[Strasbourg]]; ''maître échevin'' in [[Metz]]; ''maire royal'' in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]; or ''prévôt'' in [[Valenciennes]].

=== French Revolution ===
{{more cn section |find=French communes |find2=during French Revolution |date=March 2025}}

On 14 July 1789, at the end of the afternoon, following the [[storming of the Bastille]], the provost of the merchants of Paris, [[Jacques de Flesselles]] was shot by the crowd on the steps of Paris City Hall.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Harrison W. |title=Storming of the Bastille |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204230414/https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Although in the Middle Ages the provosts of the merchants symbolized the independence of Paris and even had openly rebelled against King [[Charles V of France|Charles V]], their office had been suppressed by the king, then reinstated but with strict control from the king, and so they had ended up being viewed by the people as yet another representative of the king, no longer the embodiment of a free municipality.

Following that event, a [[Paris Commune (1789–1795)|"commune" of Paris]] was immediately set up to replace the old medieval chartered city of Paris, and a municipal guard was established to protect Paris against any attempt made by King [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] to quell the ongoing revolution. Several other cities of France quickly followed suit, and communes arose everywhere, each with their municipal guard. On 14 December 1789, the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] (''Assemblée Nationale'') passed a law creating the commune,{{Dubious|Dubious history|date=December 2022}} designed to be the lowest level of administrative division in France, thus endorsing these independently created communes, but also creating communes of its own. In this area as in many others, the work of the National Assembly was, properly speaking, revolutionary: not content with transforming all the chartered cities and towns into communes, the National Assembly also decided to turn all the village parishes into full-status communes. The Revolutionaries were inspired by [[René Descartes|Cartesian]] ideas as well as by the philosophy of the [[The Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. They wanted to do away with all the peculiarities of the past and establish a perfect society, in which all and everything should be equal and set up according to reason, rather than by tradition or conservatism.

Thus, they set out to establish administrative divisions that would be uniform across the country: the whole of France would be divided into ''départements'', themselves divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons, themselves divided into communes, no exceptions. All of these communes would have equal status, they would all have a mayor at their head and a municipal council elected by the inhabitants of the commune. This was a real revolution for the thousands of villages that never had experienced organized municipal life before. A communal house had to be built in each of these villages, which would house the meetings of the municipal council as well as the administration of the commune. Some in the National Assembly were opposed to such a fragmentation of France into thousands of communes, but eventually [[Honoré Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] and his ideas of one commune for each parish prevailed.

On 20 September 1792, the recording of births, marriages, and deaths also was withdrawn as a responsibility of the priests of the parishes and handed to the mayors.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-11-17 |title=The Territorial Archives will recover eight parish registers from the eighteenth century |url=http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/6879/culture/territorial-archives-will-recover-eight-parish-registers-eighteenth-century |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=www.soualigapost.com |language=en |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204230424/http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/6879/culture/territorial-archives-will-recover-eight-parish-registers-eighteenth-century |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayward |first=Jack |title=Fragmented France |date=2007-04-26 |chapter=French Identity: The National Search for Retrospective Legitimacy and Unanimity |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/11495/chapter/160219476 |pages=41–66 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216314.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-921631-4 |quote=On 20 September 1792, following the massacre of some 250 priests, the Legislative Assembly secularized the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, which became the responsibility of mayors.}}</ref> Civil marriages were established and started to be performed in the ''mairie'' with a ceremony not unlike the traditional one, with the mayor replacing the priest, and the name of the law replacing the name of God ("''Au nom de la loi, je vous déclare unis par les liens du mariage.''" – "In the name of the law, I declare you united by the bonds of marriage."). Priests were forced to surrender their centuries-old baptism, marriage, and burial books, which were deposited in the ''mairies''. These abrupt changes profoundly alienated devout Catholics, and France soon was plunged into the throes of [[civil war]], with the fervently religious regions of western France at its center. It would take [[Napoleon I]] to re-establish peace in France, stabilize the new administrative system, and make it generally accepted by the population. Napoleon also abolished the election of the municipal councils, which now were chosen by the [[prefect]], the local representative of the central government.

=== Trends after the French Revolution ===
{{more cn section |find=French communes |find2=19th century history|date=March 2025}}

Today, French communes are still very much the same in their general principles as those that were established at the beginning of the Revolution. The biggest changes occurred in 1831, when the French Parliament re-established the principle of the election of municipal councils, and in 1837 when French communes were given legal "personality", being now considered [[Juristic person|legal entities]] with legal capacity. The [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobin]] revolutionaries were afraid of independent local powers, which they saw as conservative and opposed to the revolution, and so they favored a powerful central state. Therefore, when they created the communes, they deprived them of any legal "personality" (as they did with the ''départements''), with only the central state having legal "personality." By 1837 that situation was judged impractical, as mayors and municipal councils could not be parties in courts. The consequence of the change, however, was that tens of thousands of villages which had never had legal "personality" (contrary to the chartered cities) suddenly became legal entities for the first time in their history. This is still the case today.

During the revolution, approximately 41,000 communes were created,<ref>{{cite web|title=Statistique des communes (fin de l'Ancien Régime et XIXe siècle) |url=http://big.chez.com/lpcornu/servstats01.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040901002739/http://big.chez.com/lpcornu/servstats01.htm |archive-date=1 September 2004 |language=fr}}</ref> on territory corresponding to the limits of modern-day France (the 41,000 figure includes the communes of the departments of [[Savoie]], [[Haute-Savoie]] and [[Alpes-Maritimes]] which were annexed in 1795, but does not include the departments of modern-day [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]] west of the [[Rhine]], which were part of France between 1795 and 1815). This was fewer than the 60,000 parishes that existed before the revolution (in cities and towns, parishes were merged into one single commune; in the countryside, some very small parishes were merged with bigger ones), but 41,000 was still a considerable number, without any comparison in the world at the time, except in the empire of [[China]] (but there, only county level and above had any permanent administration).

Since then, tremendous changes have affected France, as they have the rest of Europe: the [[Industrial Revolution]], two [[world war]]s, and the [[rural exodus]] have all depopulated the countryside and increased the size of cities. French administrative divisions, however, have remained extremely rigid and unchanged. Today about 90 percent of communes and departments are exactly the same as those designed at the time of the French Revolution more than 200 years ago, with the same limits. Countless rural communes that had hundreds of inhabitants at the time of the French Revolution now have only a hundred inhabitants or fewer. On the other hand, cities and towns have grown so much that their urbanized area is now extending far beyond the limits of their commune which were set at the time of the revolution. The most extreme example of this is Paris, where the urbanized area sprawls over 396 communes.

Paris in fact was one of the very few communes of France whose limits were extended to take into account the expansion of the urbanized area. The new, larger, commune of Paris was set up under the oversight of Emperor [[Napoléon III]] in 1859, but after 1859 the limits of Paris rigidified. Unlike most other European countries, which stringently merged their communes to better reflect modern-day densities of population (such as Germany and Italy around 1970), dramatically decreasing the number of communes in the process{{spaced ndash}}the [[States of Germany#Municipalities (Gemeinden)|''Gemeinden'']] of [[West Germany]] were decreased from 24,400 to 8,400 in the space of a few years{{spaced ndash}}France only carried out mergers at the margin, and those were mostly carried out during the 19th century. From 41,000 communes at the time of the French Revolution, the number decreased to 37,963 in 1921, to 36,569 in 2008 (in metropolitan France).

Thus, in Europe, only Switzerland has as high a density of [[Municipalities of Switzerland|communes]] as France, and even there an extensive merger movement has started in the last 10 years. To better grasp the staggering number of communes in France, two comparisons can be made: First, of the original 15 member states of the [[European Union]] there are approximately 75,000 communes; France alone, which comprises 16 percent of the population of the EU-15, had nearly half of its communes. Second, the [[United States]], with a territory fourteen times larger than that of the French Republic, and nearly five times its population, had 35,937 incorporated [[Municipal government|municipalities]] and [[Civil township|townships]] at the 2002 Census of Governments, fewer than that of the French Republic. The number of [[barangay]]s in the Philippines, [[villages of Indonesia|villages]] of Indonesia, and [[muban]] in Thailand also have a higher number than the French communes.

=== Communes nouvelles ===

There have long been calls in France for a massive merger of communes, including by such distinguished voices as the president of the [[Cour des Comptes]] (the central auditing administrative body in France). In 1971 the [[Marcellin law]] offered support and money from the government to entice the communes to merge freely with each other, but the law had only a limited effect (only about 1,300 communes agreed to merge with others). Many rural communes with few residents struggle to maintain and manage basic services such as running water, garbage collection, or properly paved communal roads.

Mergers, however, are not easy to achieve. One problem is that mergers reduce the number of available elected positions, and thus are not popular with local politicians. Moreover, citizens from one village may be unwilling to have their local services run by an executive located in another village, whom they may consider unaware of or inattentive to their local needs.

In December 2010 the law n° 2010-1563 regarding reform of territorial collectivities was adopted, which created the legal framework for the ''communes nouvelles'' (lit. "new communes").<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/loi/2010/12/16/IOCX0922788L/jo/texte Loi n° 2010-1563 du 16 décembre 2010 de réforme des collectivités territoriales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908082824/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/loi/2010/12/16/IOCX0922788L/jo/texte |date=8 September 2015 }}, ''[[Légifrance]]''</ref> A ''commune nouvelle'' can be created by merger of a number of communes at the request of the municipal councils of all the communes or at the initiative of the state representative in the department (the [[Prefect (France)|prefect]]). The municipal council of the new commune can decide to create ''communes déléguées'' (lit. "delegated communes") in the place of the former communes, which are represented by a delegated mayor and a delegated council. Between 2012 and 2021, about 820 ''communes nouvelles'' have been established, replacing about 2,550 old communes.

=== Intercommunality ===
{{More citations needed section |date=November 2018}}
The expression "intercommunality" (''intercommunalité'') denotes several forms of cooperation between communes. Such cooperation first made its appearance at the end of the 19th century in the form of a law on 22 March 1890,{{sfn|Cour des Comptes|2005|p=8}} which provided for the establishment of single-purpose intercommunal associations. French lawmakers having long been aware of the inadequacy of the communal structure inherited from the [[French Revolution]] for dealing with a number of practical matters, the so-called [[Chevènement law]] of 12 July 1999 is the most recent and most thoroughgoing measure aimed at strengthening and simplifying this principle.

In recent years it has become increasingly common for communes to band together in intercommunal [[consortium|consortia]] for the provision of such services as refuse collection and water supply. Suburban communes often team up with the city at the core of their urban area to form a community charged with managing public transport or even administering the collection of local taxes.

The Chevènement law tidied up all these practices, abolishing some structures and creating new ones. In addition, it offered central government finance aimed at encouraging further communes to join in intercommunal structures. Unlike the only partially successful statute enacted in 1966 and enabling urban communes to form urban communities or the more marked failure of the [[Marcellin law]] of 1971, the Chevènement law met with a large measure of success, so that a majority of French communes are now involved in intercommunal structures.

There are two types of these structures:
* Those without fiscal power, the loosest form of intercommunality. Mainly in this category are the traditional syndicates of communes. Communes gather and contribute financially to the syndicate, but the syndicate cannot levy its own taxes. Communes can leave the syndicate at any time. Syndicates can be set up for a particular purpose or to deal with several simultaneous matters. These structures have been left untouched by the Chevènement law, and they are on the decline.
* Structures with fiscal power. This is what the Chevènement law was concerned with, and it distinguished three structures with fiscal power:
** the community of communes ({{Lang|fr|[[communauté de communes]]}}), aimed primarily at rural communes;
** the community of agglomeration ({{Lang|fr|[[communauté d'agglomération]]}}), aimed at towns and middle-sized cities and their suburbs;
** the urban community (''[[communauté urbaine]]''), aimed at larger cities and their suburbs.
** the metropolis (''[[métropole]]''), established in 2014, aimed at the largest cities and their suburbs.

:These three structures are given varying levels of fiscal power, with the community of agglomeration and the urban community having the most fiscal power, levying the local tax on corporations (''taxe professionnelle'') in their own name instead of those of the communes, and with the same level of taxation across the communes of the community. The communities must also manage some services previously performed by the communes, such as garbage collection or transport, but the law also makes it mandatory for the communities to manage other areas such as economic planning and development, housing projects, or environment protection. Communities of communes are required to manage the fewest areas, leaving the communes more autonomous, while urban communities are required to manage most matters, leaving the communes within them with less autonomy.

==== Allocation of government money ====
{{more cn section |find=French communes |find2=government funding|date=March 2025}}

In exchange for the creation of a community, the government allocates money to them based on their population, thus providing an incentive for communes to team up and form communities. Communities of communes are given the least money per inhabitant, whereas urban communities are given the most money per inhabitant, thus pushing communes to form more integrated communities where they have fewer powers, which they might otherwise have been loath to do if it were not for government money.

The Chevènement law has been extremely successful in the sense that a majority of French communes now have joined the new intercommunal structures. On 1 January 2007, there were 2,573 such communities in metropolitan France (including five [[Syndicat d'agglomération nouvelle|syndicats d'agglomération nouvelle]], a category currently being phased out), made up of 33,327 communes (91.1 percent of all the communes of metropolitan France), and 52.86 million inhabitants, i.e., 86.7 percent of the population of metropolitan France.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dgcl.interieur.gouv.fr/donneeschiffrees/interco/stat2007/repart_EPCI_FP_departement.pdf| title=Répartition des EPCI à fiscalité propre par département au 01/01/2007| first=Ministry of the Interior| last=Direction générale des collectivités locales (DGCL)|access-date=2007-05-19 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070701014149/http://www.dgcl.interieur.gouv.fr/donneeschiffrees/interco/stat2007/repart_EPCI_FP_departement.pdf |archive-date=1 July 2007 | author-link= Minister of the Interior (France)|language=fr}}</ref>

These impressive results however may hide a murkier reality. In rural areas, many communes have entered a community of communes only to benefit from government funds. Often the local syndicate has been turned officially into a community of communes, the new community of communes in fact managing only the services previously managed by the syndicate, contrary to the spirit of the law which has established the new intercommunal structures to carry out a much broader range of activities than that undertaken by the old syndicates. Some say that, should government money transfers be stopped, many of these communities of communes would revert to their former status of syndicate, or simply completely disappear in places where there were no syndicates prior to the law.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

In urban areas, the new intercommunal structures are much more a reality, being created by local decision-makers out of genuine belief in the worth of working together. However, in many places, local feuds have arisen, and it was not possible to set up an intercommunal structure for the whole of the urban area: some communes refusing to take part in it, or even creating their own structure. In some urban areas like Marseille there exist four distinct intercommunal structures! In many areas, rich communes have joined with other rich communes and have refused to let in poorer communes, for fear that their citizens would be overtaxed to the benefit of poorer suburbs.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

Moreover, intercommunal structures in many urban areas are still new, and fragile: Tensions exist between communes; the city at the center of the urban area often is suspected of wishing to dominate the suburban communes; communes from opposing political sides also may be suspicious of each other.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

Two famous examples of this are Toulouse and Paris. In Toulouse, on top of there being six intercommunal structures, the main community of Toulouse and its suburbs is only a community of agglomeration, although Toulouse is large enough to create an Urban Community according to the law. This is because the suburban communes refused an urban community for fear of losing too much power, and opted for a community of agglomeration, despite the fact that a community of agglomeration receives less government funds than an urban community. As for Paris, no intercommunal structure has emerged there, the suburbs of Paris fearing the concept of a "Greater Paris", and so disunity still is the rule in the metropolitan area, with the suburbs of Paris creating many different intercommunal structures all without the city.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

One major often raised problem with intercommunality, is the fact that the intercommunal structures are not subject to direct election by the people, so it is the representatives of each individual commune that sit in the new structure. As a consequence, civil servants and bureaucrats are the ones setting up the agenda and implementing it, with the elected representatives of the communes only endorsing key decisions.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

== Classification ==
{{unsourced section |find=French communes |find2=numerical indexing |date=March 2025}}

[[INSEE]] ''(Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques)'' gives numerical [[INSEE code|indexing codes]] to various entities in France, notably the communes (which do not coincide with [[postcode]]s). The complete code has eight digits and three spaces within, but there is a popular simplified code with five digits and no space within:
*Two digits ([[Departments of France|department]]) and three digits (commune) for the 96 departments of metropolitan France.
*Three digits (department or collectivity) and two digits (commune) for the [[Overseas departments]], [[Overseas collectivities]] and [[Overseas country of France|Overseas countries]].

== Administration ==
{{unsourced section |find=French communes |find2=administration|date=March 2025}}

The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes; even uninhabited mountains or [[rain forest]]s are dependent on a commune for their administration. This is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where [[unincorporated area]]s directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions:
*COM (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', i.e., [[overseas collectivity]]) of [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint-Martin]] (33,102 inhabitants). It was previously a commune inside the [[Guadeloupe]] {{Lang|fr|[[regions of France|région]]}}. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.
*COM of [[Wallis and Futuna]] (14,944 inhabitants), which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms.
*COM of [[Saint Barthélemy]] (6,852 inhabitants). It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.

Furthermore, two regions without permanent habitation have no communes:
*TOM (''territoire d'outre-mer'', i.e., [[Overseas territory (France)|overseas territory]]) of the [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]] (no permanent population, about 200 resident scientists, soldiers, and meteorologists)
*[[Clipperton Island]] in the Pacific Ocean (uninhabited)

Each commune has a [[Municipal council (France)|municipal council]] (''conseil municipal'') composed of [[municipal councilors]] (''conseillers municipaux'').
The municipal council is the legislative and deliberative [[Organs of state|organ]] of the commune.
The municipal councilors are elected by the inhabitants of the commune for a 6-year term.
Each commune is governed by a [[mayor]] (''maire'') elected for a 6-year term.

== Miscellaneous facts ==

=== Most and least populous communes ===
*[[Paris]] is the most populous commune of France with 2,187,526 residents as of 2017.<ref name=pop2017>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005055240/https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf |date=5 October 2020 }}, [[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]</ref>
*Six of the [[French villages destroyed in the First World War]] have never been rebuilt. All are found in the ''département'' of [[Meuse (department)|Meuse]] and were destroyed during the [[Battle of Verdun]] in 1916. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had "died for France", as they were declared, and to preserve their memory. The following communes are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the [[Prefect (France)|prefect]] of Meuse:
**[[Beaumont-en-Verdunois]]
**[[Bezonvaux]]
**[[Cumières-le-Mort-Homme]]
**[[Fleury-devant-Douaumont]]
**[[Haumont-près-Samogneux]]
**[[Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre]]
*Apart from the above cases, the communes with the fewest inhabitants in the French Republic are:
**commune of [[Rochefourchat]] ([[Drôme]]), in southeastern France, one inhabitant as of 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dossier complet - Commune de Rochefourchat (26274) |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2011101?geo=COM-26274 |website=Insee}}</ref>
**commune of [[Leménil-Mitry]] ([[Meurthe-et-Moselle]]), in eastern France, two inhabitants as of 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dossier complet - Commune de Leménil-Mitry (54310) |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2011101?geo=COM-54310 |website=Insee}}</ref>
**commune of [[La Bâtie-des-Fonds]] (Drôme), three inhabitants as of 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dossier complet - Commune de la Bâtie-des-Fonds (26030) |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2011101?geo=COM-26030 |website=Insee}}</ref>

=== Most and least subdivided communes ===
*[[Pas-de-Calais]] is the department in [[France]] with the most communes, with 890.
*[[Paris]] is the department in France with the fewest communes, with only single commune of an [[Arrondissement of Paris|arrondissement]] and the [[Paris|department]] itself.

=== Largest and smallest commune territories ===
*The largest commune of the French Republic is [[Maripasoula]] (with 3,710 inhabitants) in the ''département'' of [[French Guiana]]: {{convert|18360|km2|sqmi|sigfig=3}}.
*The smallest commune of the French Republic is [[Castelmoron-d'Albret]] (53 inhabitants) near [[Bordeaux]]: {{convert|3.54|ha|acre|sigfig=3}}.
*In metropolitan France the largest commune is the commune of [[Arles]] (50,513 inhabitants) near Marseille, the territory of which encompasses most of the [[Camargue]] (the [[River delta|delta]] of the [[Rhône]]): 8.7 times the area of the city of Paris (excluding the outlying parks of [[Bois de Boulogne]] and [[Bois de Vincennes]]) at {{convert|759|km2|sqmi|sigfig=3}}.

=== Communes farthest away from the capital city of France ===
*The commune of the French Republic farthest away from Paris is the commune of [[L'Île-des-Pins]] (1,840 inhabitants) in [[New Caledonia]]: 16,841&nbsp;km (10,465 miles) from the center of Paris.
*In continental France (i.e., European France excluding [[Corsica]]), the communes farthest away from Paris are [[Coustouges]] (93 inhabitants) and [[Lamanère]] (52 inhabitants) at the Spanish border: both at {{convert|721|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the center of Paris.

=== Shortest and longest commune names ===
[[File:Comunne Y picardhiv68.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Road sign marking the end of the village of [[Y, Somme|Y]] in the [[Somme (department)|Somme]] department of [[Hauts-de-France]]]]
*The commune of the French Republic with the shortest name is the commune of [[Y, Somme|Y]] in [[Somme (department)|Somme]] (91 inhabitants).
*The two communes in the French Republic with the longest names (38 letters):
**[[Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont-Saint-Genest-et-Isson]] in [[Marne (department)|Marne]] (517 inhabitants)
**[[Beaujeu-Saint-Vallier-Pierrejux-et-Quitteur]] in [[Haute-Saône]] (937 inhabitants)

=== Communes with non-French names ===
[[File:Panneau Mittelhausbergen.JPG|thumb|right|150px|[[Mittelhausbergen]] in [[Alsace]]]]
[[File:Panneau Vacqueyras.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Vacqueyras]] in [[Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur|Provence]],<br />showing double French/<br />[[Provençal dialect|Provençal]] name]]
In areas where languages other than French are or were spoken, most place-names have been translated into a French spelling and pronunciation, such as [[Dunkerque]] (''Duinkerke'' in [[Dutch language|Dutch]]), Toulouse (''Tolosa'' in [[Occitan language|Occitan]]), [[Strasbourg]] (''Straßburg'' in [[German language|German]]), [[Perpignan]] (''Perpinyà'' in [[Catalan language|Catalan]]), and many place names derived from [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] or [[Latin]]. However, many smaller communes have retained their native name. Other examples of retained names in the languages once spoken, or still spoken, on French territory:
*[[Alsatian dialect|Alsatian]]: the commune of [[Mittelhausbergen]] (1,680 inhabitants)
*[[Native American languages|Amerindian]]: the commune of [[Kourou]] (19,107 inhabitants)
*[[Arpitan language|Arpitan]]: the commune of [[Chamonix]] (9,514 inhabitants)
*[[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]: the commune of [[Kouaoua]] (1,586 inhabitants)
*[[Basque language|Basque]]: the commune of [[Ainhoa, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Ainhoa]] (683 inhabitants)
*[[Breton language|Breton]]: the commune of [[Brest, France|Brest]] (141,315 inhabitants)
*[[Catalan language|Catalan]]: the commune of [[Banyuls-dels-Aspres]] (1,007 inhabitants)
*[[Comorian language|Comorian]]: the commune of [[M'Tsangamouji|M’Tsangamouji]] (5,028 inhabitants)
*[[Corsican language|Corsican]]: the commune of [[Calvi, Haute-Corse|Calvi]] (5,377 inhabitants)
*[[Dutch language|Dutch]]: the commune of [[Steenvoorde]] (4,024 inhabitants)
*[[Italian language|Italian]]: the commune of [[Bocognano]] (372 inhabitants)
*[[Occitan language|Occitan]]: the commune of [[Alès]] (41,205 inhabitants)
*[[Polynesian languages|Polynesian]]: the commune of [[Hitiaa O Te Ra]] (8,683 inhabitants)

== See also ==
* [[Lists of communes of France]]
* [[Comune]] (Italy)
* [[Urban area (France)|Urban areas France]]
* [[National Powder Factory of Ripault]]
* [[Châteliers oppidum]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* ''[[La Documentation française]]'' ''[http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/intercommunalite/index.shtml Le développement de l'intercommunalité: la révolution discrète] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051012153302/http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/intercommunalite/index.shtml |date=12 October 2005 }}'' {{in lang|fr}}
* ''[http://www.lescommunes.com/ Les villes et communes de France] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710203844/https://www.lescommunes.com/ |date=10 July 2019 }}'' lescommunes.com: contacts, offices du tourisme et maire, Hall and Tourist Office, statistiques, photographies. {{in lang|fr}}
* Maryvonne Bonnard, ''Les collectivités territoriales en France'', 2005, ''La Documentation française'', {{ISBN|2-11-005874-9}} {{in lang|fr}}
* {{cite journal |author=Cour des comptes |date=2005 |title=L'intercommunalité en France |publication-place=Paris |url=https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/054004449.pdf |language= |journal=Journaux Officiels |volume= |issue= |pages=370 |ref={{SfnRef|Cour des Comptes|2005}} |access-date=8 February 2022 |archive-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102131455/https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/054004449.pdf |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.lescommunes.com/ Complete lists of cities and municipalities in France]

{{Communes of France}}
{{Articles on fourth-level administrative divisions of countries}}

[[Category:Administrative divisions in Europe|France 4]]
[[Category:Fifth-level administrative divisions by country|Communes, France]]
[[Category:Populated places in France| ]]
[[Category:Subdivisions of France]]
[[Category:Local government in France]]
[[Category:LAU statistical regions of the European Union|France]]
[[Category:Municipalities| ]]