Hauts-de-Seine is best known for containing the modern office, cinema and shopping complex 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.[5] Its inhabitants are called Altoséquanais (masculine) and Altoséquanaises (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 établissement public interdépartemental was established.[6] The fusion project was abandoned in 2021, but the cooperation between the two departments continues.[7]
Demographics
Population development since 1881
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1881
254,928
—
1891
332,076
+2.68%
1901
467,391
+3.48%
1911
614,862
+2.78%
1921
724,261
+1.65%
1931
949,231
+2.74%
1936
1,019,627
+1.44%
1946
992,859
−0.27%
1954
1,118,020
+1.50%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1962
1,381,805
+2.68%
1968
1,461,619
+0.94%
1975
1,438,930
−0.22%
1982
1,387,039
−0.52%
1990
1,391,658
+0.04%
1999
1,428,881
+0.29%
2006
1,536,100
+1.04%
2011
1,581,268
+0.58%
2016
1,603,268
+0.28%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), as well as to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. A foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
2 An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.
Hauts-de-Seine currently has the fewest number of any communes in Metropolitan France. With only 36 communes, not including Paris which has only one commune, this makes the French department in Metropolitan France with the fewest number of communes.
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.[5]
Politics
In both local and national elections, the department predominantly supports centre-right political candidates, though the 1st and 11th constituencies favor the left.
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.
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.