Freire is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and commune in

Cautín Province Cautín Province () is one of two Provinces of Chile, provinces in the southern Chilean Regions of Chile, region of La Araucanía Region, La Araucanía (IX), bounded on the north by Arauco Province, Arauco and Malleco Province, Malleco provinces, ...

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

. According to the 2012 census, the commune population was 21,750 and has an area of . The town of Freire lies at the junction of

Chile Highway 5 Chile Highway 5 or Route 5 known locally as ''Ruta 5'' is Chile's longest route, . It is part of the Pan-American Highway. Stretch It runs from the Peruvian border connecting with Peru Highway 1 north of Arica to Puerto Montt where it connec ...

and the Route CH-199, which links Freire with Villarrica and

Pucón Pucón (Mapudungun: "entrance to the cordillera") is a Chilean city and commune administered by the municipality of Pucón. It is located in the Province of Cautín, Araucanía Region, 100 km to the southeast of Temuco and 780 km to ...

Demographics

According to the 2017

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Population and Housing by the National Statistics Institute (''Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas'' or INE) Freire had 25,514 inhabitants; of these, 10,979 (38.9%) lived in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 20,531 (92.1%) 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 are typically desc ...

s. At that time, there were 17,670 men and 16,560 women. The population grew by 10.9% (2,517 persons) between the 2012 and 2017 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Freire 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, borough cou ...

, headed by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2021-2025 alcalde is Luis Armando Arias Lopez, and the council has the following members: * Luis García Friz * Luis Marchant Morales * Sebastian Daniel Rojas Rivera * Yanina Barría Rojas * Patricio Ríos González * José Oñate Orias Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Freire 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 Bourb ...

as a part of the 23rd electoral district (together with

Cholchol Cholchol is a Chilean town and commune located in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. The commune was created by Law 19,944 on April 22, 2004, by dividing off the northern area of the existing Nueva Imperial commune. Demographics According to t ...

Temuco Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The cit ...

, Padre Las Casas,

Nueva Imperial Nueva Imperial (New Imperial, in English) is a city and commune in the south of Chile. It is located in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region. Nueva Imperial lies about to the west of Temuco, the regional capital. Geography Nueva Imperial i ...

Carahue Carahue () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in southern Chile. It is located 56 km west of Temuco, on the northern bank of the Imperial River (Chile), Imperial River. The city was founded as La Imperial, Chil ...

, Cunco,

Puerto Saavedra Saavedra () is a commune of Chile in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. The principal community and administrative centre of the commune is the town of Puerto Saavedra. The commune is named after the Chilean soldier General Cornelio Saavedra Ro ...

, Teodoro Schmidt, Pitrufquén,

Nueva Toltén Nueva Toltén is a Chilean town in Toltén commune, Cautín Province, Araucania Region. It is located near the mouth of the Toltén River that drains Villarrica Lake, and is also SW of Temuco. Nueva Toltén was founded after the original comm ...

Gorbea Gorbea () or Gorbeia () is a mountain and massif in the Basque Country, Spain. It is the highest summit in Biscay and Álava, with a height of above sea level. The massif covers a wide area between the two provinces. The main summit is a round ...

Loncoche Loncoche (Mapudungun for "head of an important person") is a city and commune in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region, southern Chile. It is located near the border to Los Ríos Region and the city of Lanco. Loncoche is a major centre for ...

, Villarrica,

, Curarrehue). 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 ...

as part of the 11th senatorial constituency (Araucanía-South).

References

External links

*
Municipality of Freire
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Cautín Province 1895 establishments in Chile