Provinces of the Dominican Republic

Provinces of the Dominican Republic map.

The Dominican Republic is divided into thirty–one provincias (provinces; singular provincia), while the national capital, Santo Domingo, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional ("National District"; "D.N." on the map below).

The division of the country into provinces is laid down in the constitution (Title I, Section II, Article 5)^[1] and enacted by law. The latter is currently Law 5220 on the Territorial Division of the Dominican Republic (Ley No. 5220 sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana), issued 1959 and frequently amended to create new provinces and lower-level administrative units.

The provinces as administrative divisions[]

The provinces are the first–level administrative subdivisions of the country. The headquarters of the central government's regional offices are normally found in the capital cities of provinces. The president appoints an administrative governor (Gobernador Civil) for each province but not for the Distrito Nacional (Title IX of the constitution).^[1]

The provinces are divided into municipalities (municipios), which are the second–level political and administrative subdivisions of the country.^[1]

The Distrito Nacional was created in 1936. Prior to this, the Distrito National was the old Santo Domingo Province, in existence since the country's independence in 1844. It is not to be confused with the new Santo Domingo Province split off from it in 2001. While it is similar to a province in many ways, the Distrito Nacional differs in its lack of an administrative governor and consisting only of one municipality, Santo Domingo, the city council (ayuntamiento) and mayor (síndico) which are in charge of its administration.^[2]

The provinces as constituencies[]

The provinces are also constituencies for the elections to the bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la República). Each province elects one member of the Senate (Senado) and a guaranteed minimum of two members of the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados).^[1]^[3]

Statistics[]

The following is a table of the provinces and their capital cities. The population figures are from the 2021 population estimate.^[4]

Province National District	Capital	Region	Department	Area (km²)^[5]	Population 2021^[6]	Density
Azua	Azua	South	Valdesia	2,531.77	222,610	86.59
Baoruco	Neiba	South	Enriquillo	1,282.23	101,306	77.40
Barahona	Santa Cruz de Barahona	South	Enriquillo	1,739.38	189,100	108.49
Dajabón	Dajabón	Cibao	Cibao Noroeste	1,020.73	66,675	63.95
Duarte	San Francisco de Macorís	Cibao	Cibao Nordeste	1,605.35	299,583	183.70
El Seibo	Santa Cruz de El Seibo	East	Yuma	1,786.80	94,049	63.58
Elías Piña	Comendador	South	El Valle	1,426.20	63,303	35.51
Espaillat	Moca	Cibao	Cibao Norte	838.62	240,428	281.97
Hato Mayor	Hato Mayor del Rey	East	Higuamo	1,329.29	85,747	64.37
Hermanas Mirabal	Salcedo	Cibao	Cibao Nordeste	440.43	92,045	209.78
Independencia	Jimaní	South	Enriquillo	2,006.44	58,951	27.73
La Altagracia	Salvaleón de Higüey	East	Yuma	3,010.34	360,874	104.61
La Romana	La Romana	East	Yuma	653.95	274,894	397.59
La Vega	Concepción de La Vega	Cibao	Cibao Sur	2,287.24	412,469	176.64
María Trinidad Sánchez	Nagua	Cibao	Cibao Nordeste	1,271.71	140,954	111.17
Monseñor Nouel	Bonao	Cibao	Cibao Sur	992.39	174,959	171.51
Monte Cristi	San Fernando de Monte Cristi	Cibao	Cibao Noroeste	1,924.35	117,736	59.22
Monte Plata	Monte Plata	East	Higuamo	2,632.14	191,447	71.68
Pedernales	Pedernales	South	Enriquillo	2,074.53	35,280	16.12
Peravia	Baní	South	Valdesia	792.33	198,499	241.62
Puerto Plata	Puerto Plata	Cibao	Cibao Norte	1,852.90	333,940	177.29
Samaná	Santa Bárbara de Samaná	Cibao	Cibao Nordeste	853.74	113,036	125.62
San Cristóbal	San Cristóbal	South	Valdesia	1,265.77	643,595	505.93
San José de Ocoa	San José de Ocoa	South	Valdesia	855.4	53,833	45.11
San Juan	San Juan de la Maguana	South	El Valle	3,569.39	220,264	266.12
San Pedro de Macorís	San Pedro de Macorís	East	Higuamo	1,255.46	306,002	83.66
Sánchez Ramírez	Cotuí	Cibao	Cibao Sur	1,196.13	151,888	121.09
Santiago	Santiago de los Caballeros	Cibao	Cibao Norte	2,836.51	1,052,088	355.30
Santiago Rodríguez	San Ignacio de Sabaneta	Cibao	Cibao Noroeste	1,111.14	57,209	51.71
Santo Domingo	Santo Domingo Este	South	Ozama	1,301.84	2,955,339	2036.08
Valverde	Mao	Cibao	Cibao Noroeste	823.38	177,865	207.06
Distrito Nacional	Santo Domingo	East	Ozama	104.44	1,049,567	9,651.45

Map[]

Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean

Isla Catalina

La
Romana

María
Trinidad
Sánchez

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Asamblea Nacional. "CONSTITUCION DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.
^ EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley No. 163-01 que crea la provincia de Santo Domingo, y modifica los Artículos 1 y 2 de la Ley No. 5220, sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
^ EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley Electoral, No. 275-97" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.
^ Consejo Nacional de Población y Familia. "Estamaciones y Proyecciones de la Población Dominicana por Regiones, Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales, 2021" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-02. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
^ "Provincias Dominicanas - Portal Oficial del Estado Dominicano". Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
^ "Oficina Nacional de Estadística". Estimaciones y proyecciones de la población total por año calendario, según región y provincia, 2000–2030. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2016.

External links[]

(in Spanish) Oficina Nacional de Estadística (National Statistics Office). Official statistics portal of the Dominican Republic.
(in Spanish) Blog of the Dominican Republic, videos, news, culture and music

[Constitution-1] Asamblea Nacional. "CONSTITUCION DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.

[2] EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley No. 163-01 que crea la provincia de Santo Domingo, y modifica los Artículos 1 y 2 de la Ley No. 5220, sobre División Territorial de la República Dominicana" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-03-08.

[3] EL CONGRESO NACIONAL. "Ley Electoral, No. 275-97" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-03-11.

[censusvol1-4] Consejo Nacional de Población y Familia. "Estamaciones y Proyecciones de la Población Dominicana por Regiones, Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales, 2021" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-02. Retrieved 2021-06-04.

[5] "Provincias Dominicanas - Portal Oficial del Estado Dominicano". Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2017.

[6] "Oficina Nacional de Estadística". Estimaciones y proyecciones de la población total por año calendario, según región y provincia, 2000–2030. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t Administrative divisions of the Americas
South America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands French Guiana Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Pierre and Miquelon Turks and Caicos Islands US Virgin Islands