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GOLD Report I - UCLG

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235Table 1Governmental and Country CharacteristicsName Canada United StatesInhabitants (thousands) 31,362 288,205Area (km2) 9,984,670 9,631,420Inhabitants/km2 3 30GDP/capita € 35,758 € 42,623National Federal Government Federal GovernmentIntermediate Provinces (10), States (50)Territories (3)Local:Upper Tier: Counties, Regions, Counties (3,034),Districts (199)consolidated CitiesLower Tier: Cities, Towns, Townships/towns (some states) (16,504)Villages,Municipalities (Cities, Boroughs,Townships (3731) Villages) (19,429)Special Districts (48,558)Note: Population and GDP data for 2002; Area (land and water) for 2006; Canada (Upper tier), United States),2006 (Canada (lower tier).Sources: (area) CIA World Factbook (retrieved December 10, 2006 athttps://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html); (population and GDP) OECD Statistics Portal(retrieved December 10, 2006 athttp://www.oecd.org/statsportal/0,2639,en_2825_293564_1_1_1_1_1,00.html); (governments) Rivard andCollin 2006, p. 5; Commonwealth Local Government Forum 2002a, p. 2; Commonwealth Local GovernmentForum 2002b, p. 3; U.S. Census Bureau (2002), p. 3.vary widely. Single-tier local governmentspredominate in all but three provinces ofCanada, Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia.Local government consolidation andinter-local governance. Recent trendstoward new regional arrangements or localgovernment consolidation in much of Europehave had mixed resonance in NorthAmerica. Part of the reason for this may bethe roles that established governmentalunits –Canadian provinces and territories,U.S. states, and U.S. counties and townships–have played in providing regionaland inter-local governance. Especially inthe United States, informal and specializedinter-governmental arrangements haveoften taken the place of formal and general-purposeinstitutions.In Canada, consolidation of local governmentunits took place in Québec, NovaScotia, Ontario and a number of metropolitanregions since 2000 (Rivard and Collin2006). More recent initiatives have rolledback some of these reforms in Québec andelsewhere. In the United States, the

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