Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) (Provençal Occitan: Provença-Aups-Còsta d'Azur in classical norm or Prouvènço-Aup-Costo d'Azur in Mistralian norm) is one of the 26 regions of France. (See also Provence.)

It is made up of:

the former French province of Provence
the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin
the former Sardinian-Piedmontese county of Nice, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, and in French as the Côte d'Azur
the southeastern part of the former French province of Dauphiné, in the French Alps.

It encompasses six departments in south-eastern France, bounded to the east by the Italian border, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and by the principality of Monaco, to the north by Rhône-Alpes, and to the west by Languedoc-Roussillon, with the Rhône river marking its westernmost border.

The region logo displays the coat of arms created in the 1990s and which combines the coats of arms of the old provinces making up Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Economically the region is the third most important in France just behind Île-de-France and Rhône-Alpes. Its GDP in 2006 was € 130,178 million ($US 163,600 million) and per capita GDP was € 27,095 ($US 34,051).

[edit] Major communities

The largest cities in the region are Marseille, Nice, Toulon, and Aix-en-Provence, each with a population exceeding 100,000 inhabitants as of the 1999 census. The richest part of the Region is Nice's metropolitan area.