Departments of Paraguay

Paraguay is a unitary state that tends toward decentralization, in the manner established by the constitution and laws. For the purposes of the political and administrative structuring of the State, the national territory is divided, from greater to lesser degree, into departments, districts or municipalities that, within the limits of the constitution and the laws, they enjoy political, administrative and regulatory autonomy for the management of their interests, and autarky in the collection and investment of their resources.

By Law No. 71/92 dated November 6, 1992, Paraguay is made up of 17 departments and a Capital District, Asunción - which is the seat of the powers of the State -, the latter constituting a municipality independent of everything department since 1993.

Each department is made up of municipal districts and each department has a capital (seat of the government), the latter in turn are the seat of the departmental governments of their respective departments.

Departments of Paraguay

Flag	Department	National abbreviation	Population (2022)	Surface (km2)	Density (hab/km2)	Capital	Map
	Paraguay	PY-17	' s fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake alien brainchild.17 608	& fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 082349. expose himself to hypothesis.82 349	0.21	Strong Olympus
	Alto Paraná	PY-10	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorms0784839.784 839	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. fake fake brainchild.14 895	52,69	Eastern City
	Amambay	PY-13	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorms0173770.173 770	' s fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild.12 933	13,44	Pedro Juan Caballero
	Boquerón	PY-16	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 068595. fake fake fake fake brainstorm68 595	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm brainstorm.91 669	0.74	Philadelphia
	Caaguazú	PY-05	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm 0430142.430 142	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. fake fake brainchild.11 474	37,49	Colonel Oviedo
	Caazapá	PY-06	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. fake fake fake fake sex140 060	' s fake fake fake fake fake brainchild exposes him to death.9496	14.75	Caazapá
	Canindeyú	PY-14	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild expose0189128.189	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild.14 667	12,89	Salto del Guará
	Central	PY-11	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. age866562.1 866 562	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm 02465.2465	757,23	Areguá
	Concepción	PY-01	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorms0204536.204 536	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. fake fake brainchild.18 051	11,33	Concepción
	Cordillera	PY-03	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorms0271475.271 475	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 04948. exposes fake brain tumor04948	54,87	Caacupé
	Capital District	PY-ASU	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm at 0477346.477 346	' s fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild.117	4079.88	Assumption
	Guará	PY-04	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild expose0180121.180 121	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 03846. exposes fake brainchild.3846	46,83	Villarrica
	Itapúa	PY-07	' s fake fake fake fake fake brainchild expose0436966.436 966	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake brainchild.16 525	26,44	Incarnation
	Missions	PY-08	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm out0114542.114 542	' s fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild.9556	11.99	St. John the Baptist
	Ñeembucus	PY-12	& fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 085749. expose himself to hypothesis.85 749	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild. fake brainchild.12 147	7.06	Pilar
	Paraguay	PY-09	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorms0199430. hypothesize fake brainstorm199 430	& fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 08705. exposes fake brainchild.8705	22,91	Paraguay
	President Hayes	PY-15	' s fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild expose0126880.126 880	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild die072907. expose himself to fake brainchild.72 907	1.74	Villa Hayes
	San Pedro	PY-02	& fake fake fake fake fake fake brainchild fake 03341895.341 895	& fake fake fake fake fake fake fake brainstorm20002. fake fake fake brainstorm20 002	17.09	San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú

Note: Asunción is not considered a department officially, but it is considered a department for census records, surveys and statistics.

Departmental Government

The government of each department is exercised by a governor and a Departmental Board, elected by direct vote of the citizens residing in the respective departments, in elections coinciding with the general elections, and they serve for five years. The headquarters of these departmental governments are located in the respective regional capitals.

The governor represents the Executive Branch in the execution of national policy, while the Departmental Board directly represents the departmental people and is made up of regular and alternate parliamentarians who, in Brazilian political parallelism, would be like a regional one. The number of these departmental parliamentarians varies according to the population of each Department, with 7 being the minimum and 21 being the maximum, both regular and alternate. Likewise, each department is a judicial district of judges and courts of various jurisdictions (exercised by the Judicial Power), under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Justice of Paraguay, based in Asunción. On the other hand, each department has its representation of deputies for the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay, representing the Legislative Branch of the Republic.

Competence of the departmental government

According to article 163 of the Constitution of Paraguay, the departmental government is responsible for:

• 1. coordinate their activities with those of the different municipalities of the department; organize common departmental services, such as public works, provision of energy, drinking water and others that jointly affect more than one municipality, and promote cooperation associations among them;

• 2. to prepare the departmental development plan, which should be coordinated with the National Development Plan, and to develop the annual budget formulation, to be considered in the National General Budget;

• 3. To coordinate departmental action with the activities of the central government, especially with regard to the national offices of the department, primarily in the field of health and education;

• 4. to have the integration of departmental development councils,

• 5. the other powers set by this Constitution and the law.

Departmental administration resources

According to article 164 of the Constitution of Paraguay, the resources of the departmental administration are:

• 1. the corresponding portion of taxes, fees and contributions that are defined and regulated by this constitution and by law;

• 2. allocations or grants to them by the national Government;

• 3. own income determined by law, as well as donations and legacies, and

• 4. the other remedies set by law.

Municipalities

The departments of Paraguay are subdivided into municipalities. The last municipal election was held on November 15, 2015. Paraguay currently has a total of 259 municipalities.