El Carmen is a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an commune and town in Ñuble Province

Ñuble Province

Ñuble Province is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Biobío . It spans an area of and is administratively constituted by 21 communes. It has a population of 441,604 inhabitants. Its capital is the city of Chillán.-History:...

, Biobío Region.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of the National Statistics Institute

National Statistics Institute (Chile)

The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

, El Carmen spans an area of 664.3 sqkm and has 12,845 inhabitants (6,567 men and 6,278 women). Of these, 4,426 (34.5%) lived in urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s and 8,419 (65.5%) in rural areas. The population fell by 9.3% (1316 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, El Carmen is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

, headed by an alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Juan Diaz González (Ind.

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, El Carmen is represented in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 by Carlos Abel Jarpa (PRSD

Social Democrat Radical Party

The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....

) and Rosauro Martínez (RN

National Renewal (Chile)

National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...

) as part of the 41st electoral district, (together with Chillán

Chillán

Chillán is a city in the Biobío Region of Chile located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the geographical center of the country. It is the capital of Ñuble Province and, with a population of approximately 170,000 people , the most populated urban center of this province...

, Coihueco

Coihueco

Coihueco is a Chilean commune and city in Ñuble Province, Biobío Region. It is located near Chillán, the provincial capital. Coihueco borders San Carlos and San Fabián on the north, Argentina on the east, Pinto on the South, and Chillán on the west....

, Pinto

Pinto, Chile

Pinto is a Chilean town and commune in Ñuble Province, Biobío Region. It is bordered by the commune of Coihueco to the north, Chillán and San Ignacio to the west, and El Carmen and Antuco to the south...

, San Ignacio

San Ignacio, Chile

San Ignacio is a Chilean town and commune located in the Ñuble Province, Biobío Region. It spans an area of .-Demographics:According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, San Ignacio had 16,106 inhabitants; of these, 4,873 lived in urban areas and 11,233 in rural areas. At that...

, Pemuco

Pemuco

Pemuco is a Chilean town and commune in Ñuble Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Pemuco spans an area of and has 8,821 inhabitants . Of these, 3,844 lived in urban areas and 4,977 in rural areas...

, Yungay

Yungay, Chile

Yungay is a Chilean town and commune in Ñuble Province, Biobío Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, the Yungay commune had 16,814 inhabitants; of these, 11,469 lived in urban areas and 5,345 in rural areas. At that...

 and Chillán Viejo

Chillán Viejo

Chillán Viejo is a city and commune in the Ñuble Province of Chile's eighth region of Biobío . According to the 2002 census, the population of the commune was 22,084 and it has an area of .-History:...

). The commune is represented in the Senate

Senate of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

 by Victor Pérez Varela (UDI) and Mariano Ruiz -Esquide Jara (PDC

Christian Democratic Party

Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...

) as part of the 13th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Coast).

External links

Municipality of El Carmen