Coihaique Province is one of four provinces

Provinces of Chile

A province is the second largest administrative division in Chile, after a region. Each region is divided into provinces. There are 54 provinces in total....

 of the southern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an region of Aisen (XI). Its capital city is Coihaique.

Administration

As a province

Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...

, Coihaique is a second-level administrative division of Chile, which is further divided into two communes (comunas), Coihaique and Lago Verde

Lago Verde, Chile

Lago Verde is Chilean commune located in the upper flow of Cisnes River in Coyhaique Province and Aisén Region. The commune is administered by the municipality in La Tapera, the principal settlement.-Demographics:...

, each governed by a municipality headed by an alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, 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 and judge of first instance of a town...

. The province is administered by a presidentially appointed governor. Néstor Mera Muñoz was appointed by president

President of Chile

The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...

 Sebastián Piñera

Sebastián Piñera

Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique is a Chilean businessman and politician. He was elected President of Chile in January 2010, taking office in March 2010.- Education :...

.

Geography and demography

According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute

National Statistics Institute (Chile)

The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

(INE), the province spans an area of 12942.5 sqkm and had a population of 51,103 inhabitants (26,108 men and 24,995 women), giving it a population density of 3.9 PD/sqkm. Of these, 44,850 (87.8%) lived in urban areas and 6,253 (12.2%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 14.9% (6,638 persons).