The departments of France

The departments of France  

(France-in-Europe, excluding overseas territories).

"Départements" are the second-tier administrative subdivisions of France, below the regions. Departmental numbers are widely used in France to designate locations. They form the first two figures of any French postcode - for example the postcode for Toulouse is 31000, the "31" representing the department of the Haute Garonne of which Toulouse is the capital. Department numbers also feature on vehicle registration plates, though no longer in the actual number.

Each region of continental France is made up of at least 4 departments.
For instance Brittany comprises departments 22, 29, 35 and 56.
Overall, continental France is divided into 94 administrative departments, numbered 1 to 95, excepting 20. There is no department 20. The former department 20 is now departments 2a and 2b, which are the island of Corsica.

Key: for the names of the French departments, see below.


The department corresponds more or less to a county in the UK,  a canton in Switzerland or a province in Spain.

List of French departments:

Departments have various types of subdivision. The most important of these are  communes (boroughs), each with its mayor. Increasingly communes are grouped into "Com coms" - communautés de communes . Other subdivisions of departments, used for specific purposes only, are cantons and arrondissements.

(01) Ain (02) Aisne (03) Allier (04) Alpes-de-Haute- Provence (05) Hautes-Alpes (06) Alpes-Maritimes (07) Ardèche (08) Ardennes (09) Ariège (10) Aube (11) Aude (12) Aveyron (13) Bouches-du-Rhône (14) Calvados (15) Cantal (16) Charente (17) Charente-Maritime (18) Cher (19) Corrèze (2A) Corse-du-Sud (2B) Haute-Corse (21) Côte-d'Or (22) Côtes-d'Armor (23) Creuse (24) Dordogne (25) Doubs (26) Drôme (27) Eure (28) Eure-et-Loir (29) Finistère (30) Gard (31) Haute-Garonne

(32) Gers (33) Gironde (34) Hérault (35) Ille-et-Vilaine (36) Indre (37) Indre-et-Loire (38) Isère (39) Jura (40) Landes (41) Loir-et-Cher (42) Loire (43) Haute-Loire (44) Loire-Atlantique (45) Loiret (46) Lot (47) Lot-et-Garonne (48) Lozère (49) Maine-et-Loire (50) Manche (51) Marne (52) Haute-Marne (53) Mayenne (54) Meurthe-et-Moselle (55) Meuse (56) Morbihan (57) Moselle (58) Nièvre (59) Nord (60) Oise (61) Orne (62) Pas-de-Calais (63) Puy-de-Dôme

(64) Pyrénées-Atlantiques (65) Hautes-Pyrénées (66) Pyrénées-Orientales (67) Bas-Rhin (68) Haut-Rhin (69) Rhône (70) Haute-Saône (71) Saône-et-Loire (72) Sarthe (73) Savoie (74) Haute-Savoie (75) Paris (76) Seine-Maritime (77) Seine-et-Marne (78) Yvelines (79) Deux-Sèvres (80) Somme (81) Tarn (82) Tarn-et-Garonne (83) Var (84) Vaucluse (85) Vendée (86) Vienne (87) Haute-Vienne (88) Vosges (89) Yonne (90) Territoire de Belfort (91) Essonne (92) Hauts-de-Seine (93) Seine-Saint-Denis (94) Val-de-Marne (95) Val-d'Oise