Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs.

It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and Essonne to the south. With a population of 1,654,712 (as of 2023) and a total area of 176 square kilometres (68 square miles), it has the second highest population density among all departments of France, after Paris. It is the seventh most populous department in France. Its prefecture is Nanterre, although Boulogne-Billancourt, one of its two subprefectures, alongside Antony, has a larger population.

Hauts-de-Seine is best known for containing the modern business centre of La Défense, one of Grand Paris's main economic centres and one of Europe's major business districts. Hauts-de-Seine is one of the wealthiest departments in France. It had the highest GDP per capita in France at €107,800 in 2020. Several of its communes, including Neuilly-sur-Seine, Saint-Cloud, Garches and Ville-d'Avray, are wealthy suburbs of Paris.

Its inhabitants are called (masculine) and (feminine) in French.

History From 1790 to 1968, Hauts-de-Seine was part of the former department of Seine.

The Hauts-de-Seine department was created in 1968, from parts of the former departments of Seine and Seine-et-Oise. Its creation reflected the implementation of a law passed in 1964. Nanterre had already been selected as the prefecture for the new department early in 1965.

In 2016, the Departmental Council of Hauts-de-Seine voted in favour of a fusion of Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines, its western neighbour. Following a similar vote in Yvelines, an was established."Fusion Yvelines - Hauts-de-Seine : pas question de rompre les fiançailles maintenant", Le Parisien, 16 June 2020. The fusion project was abandoned in 2021, but the cooperation between the two departments continues.

Demographics Population development since 1881

Place of birth of residents

Geography Location Hauts-de-Seine and two other small departments (Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) form an inner ring around Paris, known as the Petite Couronne (literal translation: "Little Crown"). Together with the City of Paris, they are included in Greater Paris since 1 January 2016. It is the smallest department in France, followed by Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.

Administration Hauts-de-Seine comprises three departmental arrondissements and 36 communes:

Map numberNameArea (km2)Population (2023)Populations de référence 2023: 92 Hauts-de-Seine, INSEECoat of armsArrondissementMapLabelled map1Antony9.5664,263Antony2Châtenay-Malabry6.3835,8253Sceaux3.620,8844Bourg-la-Reine1.8621,0195Bagneux4.1944,5726Fontenay-aux-Roses2.5124,0707Le Plessis-Robinson3.4328,8488Clamart8.7758,5769Châtillon2.9236,70510Montrouge2.0746,32411Malakoff2.0730,55712Vanves1.5628,622Boulogne-Billancourt13Issy-les-Moulineaux4.2567,66914Boulogne-Billancourt6.17119,01915Meudon9.946,33416Sèvres3.9122,30317Chaville3.5520,59418Ville-d'Avray3.6711,08920Marnes-la-Coquette3.481,75219Saint-Cloud7.5629,855Nanterre21Vaucresson3.088,43222Garches2.6917,74323Rueil-Malmaison14.782,87424Suresnes3.7948,95625Puteaux3.1944,00226Nanterre12.1997,78327Colombes7.8191,05328La Garenne-Colombes1.7830,19729Bois-Colombes1.9228,90930Courbevoie4.1782,90231Neuilly-sur-Seine3.7359,53832Levallois-Perret2.4168,09233Clichy3.0864,41034Asnières-sur-Seine4.8293,94135Gennevilliers11.6450,97936Villeneuve-la-Garenne3.226,021 Hauts-de-Seine currently has the fewest number of communes (36) of any department in Metropolitan France, not including Paris which has only one commune.

Economy Hauts-de-Seine is one of France's wealthiest departments and one of Europe's richest areas. Its GDP per capita was €106,800 in 2020, according to Eurostat official figures.

Politics

In both local and national elections, the department predominantly supports centre-right political candidates, though the 1st and 11th constituencies favor the left.

Hauts-de-Seine was the political base of Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic from 2007 to 2012. He was the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1983–2002) and president of the Departmental Council of Hauts-de-Seine (2004–2007) before he assumed the office. Sarkozy had succeeded Charles Pasqua as president of the Departmental Council.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Hauts-de-Seine received national media attention as the result of a corruption scandal concerning the misuse of public funds provided for the department's housing projects. Implicated were Charles Pasqua, as well as other personalities of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) party.

Departmental Council of Hauts-de-Seine

Hauts-de-Seine is governed by a departmental council. Its 46 members are called departmental councillors. The electorate of Hauts-de-Seine usually votes for right-wing parties; there has never been a left-wing majority since the department's inception in 1968.

The departmental council is the deliberative organ of the department. The executive is led by the council president, assisted by vice presidents, in charge of various portfolios. Departmental councillors are elected (two per canton) by the department's inhabitants for six-year terms (no term limits). The president of the Departmental Council is Georges Siffredi, elected in 2020.

Presidential elections (2nd round) results since 1995 ElectionWinning candidateParty%2nd place candidateParty% 2022 Emmanuel Macron LREM 80.39 Marine Le Pen FN 19.61 2017 Emmanuel Macron LREM 85.65 Marine Le Pen FN 14.35 2012 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 50.52 François Hollande PS 49.48 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 55.65 Ségolène Royal PS 44.35 2002 Jacques Chirac RPR 87.99 Jean-Marie Le Pen FN 12.01 1995 Jacques Chirac RPR 57.25 Lionel Jospin PS 42.75

National representation In the National Assembly Hauts-de-Seine elected the following members of the National Assembly in the 2024 legislative election:

Constituency Member Party Hauts-de-Seine's 1st constituency Elsa Faucillon French Communist Party Hauts-de-Seine's 2nd constituency Thomas Lam The Republicans Hauts-de-Seine's 3rd constituency Philippe Juvin The Republicans Hauts-de-Seine's 4th constituency Sabrina Sebaihi The Ecologists Hauts-de-Seine's 5th constituency Céline Calvez Renaissance Hauts-de-Seine's 6th constituency Constance Le Grip Renaissance Hauts-de-Seine's 7th constituency Pierre Cazeneuve Renaissance Hauts-de-Seine's 8th constituency Prisca Thevenot Renaissance Hauts-de-Seine's 9th constituency Élisabeth de Maistre The Republicans Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency Gabriel Attal Renaissance Hauts-de-Seine's 11th constituency Aurélien Saintoul La France Insoumise Hauts-de-Seine's 12th constituency Jean-Didier Berger The Republicans Hauts-de-Seine's 13th constituency Renaissance

In the Senate

In the Senate, Hauts-de-Seine is represented by: André Gattolin (LREM), since 2011 Xavier Iacovelli (LREM), since 2017 Roger Karoutchi (LR), since 2009 Christine Lavarde (LR), since 2017 Hervé Marseille (UDI), since 2011 Pierre Ouzoulias (PCF), since 2017 Philippe Pemezec (LR), since 2017

Tourism

References

External links

Website of the Departmental council Prefecture website