588: State versus Province Jul 18, 2016

The difference between a state and a province can seem arbitrary, especially to people from the USA and Canada. Both words are used to describe a large regional division of a country, but the two have different governing-rights. The governments of the USA and Canada follow a federal system, so all of the states or provinces still are constituent members under the federal government, blurring the distinction. Provinces do not necessarily have to be part of a constituent member of a federation such as in China. That country has provinces, but China has a unitary government, not a federal system.