Río Claro is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of the

Talca Province Talca Province ( es, Provincia de Talca) is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule (VII). Its capital is the city of Talca. Administration As a province, Talca is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed b ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Maule Region The Maule Region ( es, Región del Maule, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a ...

. The municipal seat is the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Cumpeo.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of the

National Statistics Institute National Institute of Statistics may refer to: *National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia *National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Nica ...

, Río Claro spans an area of and has 12,698 inhabitants (6,716 men and 5,982 women). Of these, 2,651 (20.9%) lived in

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s and 10,047 (79.1%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

s. The population grew by 0.8% (107 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Río Claro is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law. ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

, headed by an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) 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'' (the municipal council) a ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Claudio Guajardo Oyarce. Within the

electoral divisions of Chile Chile has two distinct electoral division systems: * To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies. * To elect members of ...

, Río Claro is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by Pablo Lorenzini ( PDC) and Pedro Pablo Alvarez-Salamanca (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...

) as part of the 38th electoral district, together with

Curepto Curepto is a town and commune in the Chilean Province of Talca, located in the VII Maule Region. The commune spans an area of . Culture The town has many examples of Chilean rural colonial architecture. Its parish church is a quintessential exam ...

, Constitución, Empedrado,

Pencahue Pencahue () is a town and commune in Chile, located in Talca Province, in the seventh region of Maule. The commune spans and area of . Also there are another three places called Pencahue, near to San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, Sexta Región, Chile. ...

, Maule,

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway betwee ...

Pelarco Pelarco is a town and commune in Talca Province, Maule Region of Chile. The commune spans an area of . Demographics According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, Pelarco had 7,266 inhabitants; of these, 1,822 (25.1%) lived in ...

and San Rafael. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Juan Antonio Coloma Correa (UDI) and Andrés Zaldívar Larraín (PDC) as part of the 10th senatorial constituency (Maule-North).

References

External links

*
Municipality of Río Claro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Claro, Chile Communes of Chile Populated places in Talca Province