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 2019, there are thirty-four comarques (including the city of Valencia), with a median population of 147,227.55 and a median area of 685.43 km².

List of comarques

Comarca	Population (2019)^[1]	Area (km²)^[1]	Density (i./km²)	Capital
Alacantí	487,113	673.57	723.15	Alicante / Alacant
Alcalatén	15,585	648.68	24.02	L'Alcora
Alcoià	109,196	539.66	202.33	Alcoi
Alt Maestrat	6,657	663.16	10.03	Albocàsser
Alt Millars	3,908	667.06	5.85	Cirat
Alto Palancia / Alt Palància	23,753	965.15	24.61	Segorbe
Alt Vinalopó / Alto Vinalopó	52,401	644.76	81.27	Villena
Baix Maestrat	81,871	1,221.32	67.03	Vinaròs
Baix Vinalopó	293,775	488.78	601.03	Elche / Elx
Camp de Morvedre	91,662	271.20	337.96	Sagunt
Camp de Túria / Campo de Turia	162,991	823.37	197.96	Llíria
Canal de Navarrés	15,687	709.29	22.11	Enguera
Comtat	28,096	377.77	74.37	Cocentaina
Costera	71,522	528.26	130.47	Xàtiva
Horta Nord	228,424	140.51	1626.48	Puçol
Horta Oest	354,334	178.84	1888.77	Catarroja
Horta Sud	178,118	166.19	1071.96	Torrent
Hoya de Buñol / Foia de Bunyol	42,598	817.37	52.08	Buñol
Marina Alta	175,156	758.02	228.30	Dénia
Marina Baixa	188,623	578.67	338.04	La Vila Joiosa
Ports	4,400	904.07	4.84	Morella
Plana Alta	252,828	957.29	264.10	Castelló de la Plana
Plana Baixa	190,925	605.15	315.50	Borriana
Requena-Utiel	37,753	1,721.03	21.87	Requena
Ribera Alta	220,366	970.04	227.17	Alzira
Ribera Baixa	79,869	276.81	288.50	Sueca
Rincón de Ademuz / Racó d'Ademús	2,266	370.22	6.12	Ademuz
Serranos	16,159	1,405.28	11.49	Chelva
Safor	171,903	429.80	400.12	Gandia
València	794,288	134.63	5.89	València
Vall d'Albaida	87,349	722.22	120.63	Ontinyent
Valle de Ayora / Vall de Cofrents	9,835	1,141.15	8.61	Cofrentes
Vega Baja del Segura / Baix Segura	355,257	957.28	362.24	Orihuela
Vinalopó Mitjà	171,069	797.99	214.74	Elda
Total	5,005,737	23,254.49	214.79

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.

References

^ ^a ^b Populations and areas are taken from the INE – (INE website) Archived 2007-04-04 at the Wayback Machine.

Bibliography

Proposta de demarcacions territorials homologades, Direcció General d'Administració Local, València, D.L. 1988. Conselleria d'Administració Pública. ISBN 84-7579-587-0

[INE-1] Populations and areas are taken from the INE – (INE website) Archived 2007-04-04 at the Wayback Machine.

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