Concepción Province, Chile

Concepción Province (Provincia de Concepción) is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Bío Bío (VIII). Its capital, Concepción, is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation, the nation's second largest metropolitan area after Santiago.

Administration
As a province, Concepción is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed by a provincial governor who is appointed by the president.

Communes
The province comprises twelve communes, each governed by a municipality consisting of an elected alcalde and municipal council.


 * Concepción
 * Coronel
 * Chiguayante
 * Florida
 * Hualpén
 * Hualqui
 * Lota
 * Penco
 * San Pedro de la Paz
 * Santa Juana
 * Talcahuano
 * Tomé

Geography and demography
According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the province spans an area of 3439.3 sqkm and had a population of 912,889 inhabitants (441,953 men and 470,936 women), giving it a population density of 265.4 PD/sqkm. It is the second most populated province after the more than five times larger Santiago Province (pop. 4,668,473). Of these, 879,854 (96.4%) lived in urban areas and 33,035 (3.6%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 8.5% (71,444 persons).