Atomic valence in molecular systems is described as a partitioning of the hole distribution, the complementary part of the particle distribution. In this scheme, valence splits into three contributions, related to electron spin density, nonuniform occupancy of orbitals (nonpairing terms) and exchange density (pairing terms), respectively, and whose importance depends on the nature of the state of the system. Calculations carried out for correlated Cl and Hartree-Fock state functions in both Mulliken and topological AIM type partitionings as well as theoretical results show the suitability of this formulation for describing valence concepts. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.