Providencia (,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: "providence") is a commune of

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 ...

located in Santiago City. It is bordered by the communes of Santiago to the west, Recoleta to the northwest,

Las Condes Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper middle- to high-income families and is known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's e ...

and

Vitacura Vitacura is a communes of Chile, commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Chile, Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is one of the most expensive and fashionable areas of Santiago, Chile, Santiago. Inhabitants are primarily h ...

to the northeast,

La Reina La Reina (Spanish: "The Queen"; distorted from Larraín) is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region, created in 1963 from an eastern portion of the Ñuñoa commune. It belongs to the Northeastern zone of Sa ...

to the east, and

Ñuñoa Ñuñoa (; from Mapudungun ''Ñuñohue'', "place of yellow flowers") is a communes of Chile, commune located in the Northeastern zone of Santiago, northeastern sector of Santiago de Chile, Santiago, the capital of Chile. Bordered by Providencia, C ...

to the south. It belongs to the

Northeastern zone of Santiago de Chile The northeastern zone of Santiago de Chile, known as “''sector oriente''”, refers to the name given to the Communes of Chile, communes to the east of the Santiago (commune), Santiago commune, where the majority of the population with the hig ...

. Providencia is home to a large upper middle to upper-class population and it holds the region's highest percentage of population over 60 (22%). It contains many high-rise apartment buildings as well as a significant portion of Santiago's commerce. It is notable for its large, old, and elegant houses, once inhabited by the Santiago elite and now mostly used as offices. The municipality is also home to many embassies, including Canada, Poland, Hungary, Italy, France, Egypt, Russia, Japan, China, and Uruguay. Providencia has one of the highest human development indexes of any city in Latin America.

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 the National Statistics Institute, Providencia spans an area of and has 142,079 inhabitants (65,710 men and 76,369 women), and the commune is an entirely

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 ...

. The population grew by 17.54% (21,205 persons) between the 2002 and 2017 censuses.

Indicators

*Area: 14.4 km²Sistema de Información Regional
Ministry of Planning of Chile. *Population: 126,436 (2009 projection) *Average annual household income: US$53,767 ( PPP, 2006) *Population below poverty line: 3.5% (2006) *Regional quality of life index: 83.01, high, 5 out of 52 (2005) *

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: 0.911, 4 out of 341 (2003)

Notable residents

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the 30th president of Chil ...

, former president *

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

, former president *

Gabriel Valdés Gabriel Valdés Subercaseaux (July 3, 1919 – September 7, 2011) was a Chilean politician, lawyer and diplomat. Valdes served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile under President Eduardo Frei Montalva from 1964 to 1970. A vocal opponent ...

, former senator

Administration

As a commune, Providencia 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 current alcaldesa is Jaime Bellolio Avaria (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

). The communal council has the following members: * María Eugenia Pino García ( FA) * Cristóbal Lagos González ( FA) * Isabel Labbé Martínez (

) * María Carolina Plaza Guzmán (Ind/

) * Valentina Alarcón Chávez (

Evópoli Political Evolution (), also known in Spanish by its shorthand Evópoli, is a Chilean centre-right political party, founded in 2012. The party defines itself as a liberal platform for the people who look for a "modern centre-right who proposes as ...

) * María Fernanda Maquieira Borgoño ( RN) * Mauricio Labbé Barría ( RN) * María Antonieta Saa Díaz ( PPD) * Rodrigo Valenzuela Báez ( REP) * Solange Wolleter Dávila ( REP) Providencia belongs to Electoral District No. 10, with

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, La Granja,

Macul Macul ( Quechua: "to stretch out right hand") is a commune of Chile located in the central-eastern part of the Greater Santiago area, bordered by the communes of Ñuñoa to the north, San Joaquín to the west, Peñalolén to the east and L ...

and

San Joaquín San Joaquín (Spanish for Saint Joachim) is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is part of Greater Santiago. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, San ...

, and to the 7th (

Senatorial 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 eld ...

) District (

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

). It 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 ...

of the

National Congress National Congress is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures. Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress, original name of the Oromo People's Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress Reform *India: **In ...

by the deputies

Gonzalo Winter Gonzalo Rodolfo Winter Etcheberry (born 6 January 1987) is a Chilean lawyer and politician. Since March 2018, he has been a deputy of the Republic representing District 10, comprising Santiago Metropolitan Region. Early life and education He was ...

( CS), Jorge Alessandri Vergara (

), Johannes Kaiser ( REP),

María Luisa Cordero María Luisa Cordero Velásquez (born 23 January 1943) is a Chilean people, Chilean psychiatrist, writer, television commentator and politician. Political career In 2012, she defined herself as an anti-communist. In 2013 she was criticized f ...

(IND), Lorena Fries (IND), Helia Molina ( PPD), Alejandra Placencia ( PC) and Emilia Schneider (

COM Com or COM may refer to: Computing * COM (hardware interface), a serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers * COM file, or .com file, short for "command", a file extension for an executable file in MS-DOS * .com, an Internet top-level ...

). The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has its headquarters in Providencia.Portada
." Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Retrieved on 12 April 2012. "Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil, DGAC : Miguel Claro 1314, Providencia, Santiago de Chile :: Clasificador 3, Correo 9"

Landmarks

Providencia is home to Barrio Bellavista, a bohemian neighborhood known for its vibrant community of artists and performers. Barrio Bellavista lies in the shadow of Cerro San Cristóbal, a prominent hill in the city topped by a 22m statue of

The Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loret ...

. The northern part of Providencia serves as its financial and commercial hub, centered around Providencia and Nueva Providencia (formerly 11 de Septiembre) avenues, while the rest of the commune features high-end residential developments. Other notable areas of interest in Providencia include the Metropolitan Zoo; the Teleférico, an aerial gondola that transports passengers from Pedro de Valdivia Norte Street to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal; and the headquarters of several television networks and

Radio Cooperativa Radio Cooperativa is a radio station in Chile, based in Santiago. It is operated by ''Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones S.A.''. The station is notable for opposing the Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 19 ...

References

External links

* *
Municipality of Providencia
{{Communes in Santiago Metropolitan Region Geography of Santiago, Chile Populated places in Santiago Province, Chile Communes of Chile Diplomatic districts Populated places established in 1897 1897 establishments in Chile