Census metropolitan community
The census metropolitan community (CMC; Arabic: المجتمع الحضري للإحصاء al-mujtamaʿ al-ḥaḍrī lil-iḥṣāʾ) is a category of special geographic unit used by the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Arab Union for census and statistical purposes. The category is defined by the Bureau as a contiguous, economically integrated region with an urban (non-rural) population of at least 100,000, centred on a built-up area with a high-density core surrounded by a lower-density commuter belt of suburban and exurban communities and, optionally, rural fringes closely tied to the regional market. As special geographic units, CMCs are not formal administrative divisions, ie. Baladiyāt (local municipal councils), districts and republics, which also function as census units under the National Census Act, 2004.
Each census metropolitan community has a designated "Combined Authority", which is responsible for overseeing all programs and infrastructure which serve the CMC as a whole; common examples include, but are not limited to, transportation (such as road and mass transit planning, development and maintenance), water and sanitation services, recycling and waste disposal, economic integration, and power generation and delivery. The Combined Authority typically has its headquarters in a specially designated building located in the primary core city of the CMC, and is governed by a council composed of a single member from each member municipal council, who is elected by voters residing in that council; council elections take place every three years. The council itself is responsible for hiring a manager to oversee the services for which the council is responsible—the manager is not endowed with political authority, and can be removed at any time by a majority vote of the council.
List of CMCs[edit | edit source]
This is a list of currently established census metropolitan communities by population:
- Cairo Metropolis — 23,405,000
- Baghdad Metropolis — 15,338,000
- Capital metropolitan community — 11,716,000
- Greater Riyadh — 11,203,000
- Greater Dubai — 8,455,000
- Port Said–Port Fuad Combined Metropole — 6,336,000
- Greater Alexandria — 5,504,000
- Greater Jeddah — 5,068,000
- Greater Kuwait City — 4,817,000
- Amman Metropolis — 4,642,000
- Jaffa Metropolis — 4,605,000
- Greater Mosul — 4,165,000
- Damascus Metropolis — 3,883,000
- Aleppo Metropolis — 3,115,000
- Abu Dhabi Metropole — 2,851,000
- Greater Doha — 2,718,000
- Greater Gaza — 2,605,000
- Greater Jerusalem — 2,045,000