How Are Barrios Defined In Panama?

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In Panama, a barrio is an informal neighborhood name. It is commonly used in daily life, but it is not an official administrative division.

Barrios are usually smaller areas than the smallest official political-administrative unit defined by the government ("corregimiento").

Barrios are much more commonly used in daily life than the actual official area names.

  • Barrios have no legal or administrative status
  • They are not officially created or regulated
  • They are not part of the formal hierarchy (province → district → corregimiento)

How barrios are used

Even though they are informal, barrios are widely used:

  • To describe where someone lives
  • In addresses and directions
  • In real estate listings and local descriptions
  • By residents, businesses, and services

A single corregimiento can contain many barrios, and their boundaries are often unclear or debated.

Lack of official boundaries

  • There is no official list or map of barrios
  • Names and limits can change depending on usage
  • Different sources may define the same barrio differently

Barrios might overlap into multiple corregimientos. For example, parts of the Barrio Costa del Este belong to Juan Díaz, while the rest belongs to Parque Lefevre.

Examples of well-known barrios

Some well known barrios in Panama City include:

  • Costa del Este
  • El Cangrejo
  • Punta Paitilla
  • Casco Viejo

Summary

In Panama, a barrio is a commonly used neighborhood name with no legal definition. Barrios are part of everyday language and local identity, but they exist outside the country’s official territorial organization.