Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.

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 six departments are:
 * Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
 * Hautes-Alpes
 * Alpes-Maritimes
 * Bouches-du-Rhône
 * Var
 * Vaucluse

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).

Immigration
According to a study in 2009, nearly 42% of all newborns in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in 2007 had at least one parent originated from Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa or Overseas departments and territories of France. This is the second highest rate after Île-de-France (Greater Paris) at about 56%.

Major communities
The largest cities in the region are Marseille (administrative capital city of the region), Nice, Toulon, and Aix-en-Provence, each with a population exceeding 100,000 inhabitants at the 1999 census. Marseille with an urban area of 2 Million inhabitants, is the largest and capital city of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region.
 * Aix-en-Provence
 * Antibes (includes Juan-les-Pins)
 * Arles
 * Aubagne
 * Avignon
 * Cannes
 * Draguignan
 * Fréjus
 * Grasse
 * Hyères
 * La Seyne-sur-Mer
 * Le Cannet
 * Mandelieu-la-Napoule
 * Marseille
 * Mougins
 * Martigues
 * Nice
 * Toulon
 * Villeneuve-Loubet