<P> The series takes place in the fictional nation of Panem, which has replaced the 21st century North American nations at an unspecified future time after a series of ecological disasters and a great war . The name is the Latin word for bread . Panem consists of a Capitol city located in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by thirteen outlying Districts . The government is a totalitarian dictatorship similar to ancient Rome, a police state in which the Districts are subservient to the Capitol, expected to provide economic goods in exchange for protection provided by "Peacekeepers". </P> <P> Seventy - four years before the start of the story, a civil war was waged against the Capitol, led by District 13 which was a center of military--industrial production . The Capitol put down the rebellion and razed District 13 to the ground, ostensibly wiping out its residents . The government refers to this war as "the Dark Days", and to punish the rebellious districts and remind all generations of the Capitol's power, instituted an annual pageant known as the "Hunger Games" for which each district is compelled to provide one male and one female "tribute" between the ages of 12 and 18, chosen by lottery . The twenty - four tributes are sent to an arena and forced to fight to the death, until a single victor remains . </P> <P> Panem has been led for more than 25 years by President Coriolanus Snow . In Mockingjay, it is revealed that District 13's population was not wiped out, but retreated underground and is currently led by Snow's political rival, President Alma Coin . After the 75th and final Hunger Games, Coin leads a second rebellion against the Capitol, which is successful . She is then assassinated by Katniss Everdeen and is succeeded by Commander Paylor, who presides over a reestablished democratic republic . </P> <P> The Capitol is populated by citizens who, like the ancient Romans as observed by the satirical poet Juvenal circa A.D. 100, have sold their civic responsibility and capacity for self - government in return for panem et circenses ("bread and circuses"). </P>

What are the 12 district in hunger games