Comarques of the Valencian Community explained

Comarques of the Valencian Community

The comarques of the Valencian Community form an intermediate level of administrative subdivision between municipalities and provinces. They are used as a basis for the provision of local services by the Generalitat Valenciana, but do not have any representative or executive bodies of their own.

In 1987, the Generalitat Valenciana published an official proposal for Homologated Territorial Demarcations, Demarcacions Territorials Homologades (DTH), of three degrees, where the first degree largely coincides with the territorial concept of comarca. Until now, the practice of these demarcations has been limited as a reference to the administrative decentralisation of the different services offered by the Generalitat, such as education, health, or agriculture. In fact, there is no legal provision for these DTHs to ultimately have the intended “territorial impact”, that is, comarca-level political or administrative bodies. Instead, the powers shared between several municipalities are being articulated through mancomunitats, or commonwealths.

Article 65 of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy provides the first legislative foundation for the comarques.

As of 2021, there are thirty-three comarques (including the city of Valencia).

List of comarques

Comarca Population (2023)[1] Area (km²) Density
(i./km²)
Capital Linguistic domain
509,049 673.59 755.72 Valencian
14,050 391.4 35.89 Valencian
112,028 539.66 207.58 Valencian
6,392 846.05 7.55 Valencian
4,232 667.06 6.34 Spanish
Alto Palancia25,269 965.15 26.18 Spanish
Alto Vinalopó / Alt Vinalopó52,905 644.76 82.05 Spanish (mainly) / Valencian
86,349 1,221.32 70.70 Valencian
306,300 488.78 626.66 Valencian
97,826 271.1 360.84 Valencian
177,195 823.37 215.20 Valencian (mainly) / Spanish
15,754 709.29 22.21 Spanish
28,119 376.4 74.70 Valencian
72,297 528.1 136.9 Valencian
311,632 184.44 1,689.61 Valencian
482,569 309.73 1,558.03 Valencian
Hoya de Buñol46,039 817.37 52.08 Spanish
191,265 759.3 251.89 Valencian
198,888 605.3 328.57 Valencian
6,674 998.54 6.68
264,381 942.2 280.59 Valencian
196,605 605.2 324.85 Valencian
37,926 1,721.03 22.03 Spanish
228,406 1,011.5 225.80 Valencian
82,663 276.81 298.62 Valencian
Rincón de Ademuz2,221 370.22 5.99 Spanish
17,115 1,405.28 12.17 Spanish
179,185 429.80 416.90 Valencian
807,693 134.63 5,999.35 Valencian
88,114 722.22 122 Valencian
9,656 1,141.15 8.46 Spanish
379,975 957.28 396.93
Vinalopó Mitjà / Vinalopó Medio171,828 798.6 215.16
Total 5,210,600 23,254.49 224.06

Subcomarques

Some comarques are made up of two or more subcomarques. Most of them correspond with local geographical features. For instance, Alcoià is made up of two subcomarques: Foia de Castalla and Valls d'Alcoi.

Historical comarques

Historical comarques refer to former comarques that are no longer extant.

Some historical comarques of the Valencian Community are now part of other comarques in the new territorial demarcation, such as Tinença de Benifassà and Ports de Morella.

Before 2021, Horta Oest was a formerly a comarca, when it was mostly annexed by Horta Sud with the municipality of Paterna joining Horta Nord.

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Municipis per comarques - Argos - Generalitat Valenciana. Argos.