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Aysén, Chile

Commune in Aysén, Chile

Aysén or Aisén (pronounced: /ˈsɛn/ eye-SEN) is a Chilean commune located in Aysén Province, Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. It is home to the city of Puerto Aysén and to the towns of Villa Mañiguales and Puerto Chacabuco. It is the largest commune in Chile in total area, and it is slightly larger than Armenia.

01A note on orthography

Chile’s Instituto Geográfico Militar (IGM) prefers the spelling Aisén, as did formerly the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE). However, since 2010 the INE has conformed to the locally preferred, and overwhelmingly more frequently used, form Aysén.

02Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1930 6,835,     
1940 13,751+7.24%
1952 8,754−3.69%
1970 13,525+2.45%
1982 13,538+0.01%
1992 19,090+3.50%
2002 22,353+1.59%
2017 23,959+0.46%
2024 23,170−0.48%
Source: "Censo de Población y Vivienda". National Statistics Institute.

According to the 2002 INE census, Aysén had 22,353 inhabitants (11,853 males and 10,500 females), of whom 19,580 (87.6%) lived in urban areas and 2,773 (12.4%) in rural areas at that time. Between the censuses of 1992 and 2002 the population had grown by 17.1% (3,263 persons).

03Administration

As a commune, Aysén is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. As of October 2024, the current alcalde was Julio Uribe Alvarado.

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Aysén is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by René Alinco (PDC) and David Sandoval (UDI) as part of the 59th electoral district, which includes the entire Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The commune is represented in the Senate by Antonio Horvath Kiss (RN) and Patricio Walker Prieto (PDC) as part of the 18th senatorial constituency (Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region).

Watch videos about Aysén, ChileExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Aysén, Chile, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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