Hauts-de-Seine

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 1,624,357 and a total area of 176 square kilometres, it has the second highest population density among all departments of France, after Paris. It is the fifth most populous department in France. Its prefecture is Nanterre, but Boulogne-Billancourt, one of its two subprefectures, alongside Antony, has a larger population.
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. Its inhabitants are called Altoséquanais and Altoséquanaises in French.

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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. The fusion project was abandoned in 2021, but the cooperation between the two departments continues.

Geography

Location

Hauts-de-Seine and two other small departments form an inner ring around Paris, known as the Petite Couronne. 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. It is slightly smaller than Maldives.

Administration

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

Map number	Name	Area	Population	Coat of arms	Arrondissement	Map	Labelled map
1	Antony	9.56	62,760		Antony
2	Châtenay-Malabry	6.38	34,021		Antony
3	Sceaux	3.6	20,004		Antony
4	Bourg-la-Reine	1.86	21,050		Antony
5	Bagneux	4.19	40,936		Antony
6	Fontenay-aux-Roses	2.51	25,531		Antony
7	Le Plessis-Robinson	3.43	30,061		Antony
8	Clamart	8.77	52,925		Antony
9	Châtillon	2.92	36,639		Antony
10	Montrouge	2.07	48,352		Antony
11	Malakoff	2.07	30,950		Antony
12	Vanves	1.56	27,846		Boulogne-Billancourt
13	Issy-les-Moulineaux	4.25	67,981		Boulogne-Billancourt
14	Boulogne-Billancourt	6.17	121,583		Boulogne-Billancourt
15	Meudon	9.9	45,818		Boulogne-Billancourt
16	Sèvres	3.91	23,463		Boulogne-Billancourt
17	Chaville	3.55	20,771		Boulogne-Billancourt
18	Ville-d'Avray	3.67	11,225		Boulogne-Billancourt
20	Marnes-la-Coquette	3.48	1,774		Boulogne-Billancourt
19	Saint-Cloud	7.56	30,012		Nanterre
21	Vaucresson	3.08	8,683		Nanterre
22	Garches	2.69	17,795		Nanterre
23	Rueil-Malmaison	14.7	78,317		Nanterre
24	Suresnes	3.79	49,311		Nanterre
25	Puteaux	3.19	45,157		Nanterre
26	Nanterre	12.19	96,277		Nanterre
27	Colombes	7.81	86,534		Nanterre
28	La Garenne-Colombes	1.78	29,642		Nanterre
29	Bois-Colombes	1.92	28,841		Nanterre
30	Courbevoie	4.17	81,558		Nanterre
31	Neuilly-sur-Seine	3.73	59,599		Nanterre
32	Levallois-Perret	2.41	66,082		Nanterre
33	Clichy	3.08	63,089		Nanterre
34	Asnières-sur-Seine	4.82	87,143		Nanterre
35	Gennevilliers	11.64	48,530		Nanterre
36	Villeneuve-la-Garenne	3.2	24,097		Nanterre

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.

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 and president of the Departmental Council of Hauts-de-Seine 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 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 by the department's inhabitants for six-year terms. The president of the Departmental Council is Georges Siffredi, elected in 2020.

National representation

Hauts-de-Seine elected the following members of the National Assembly in the 2024 legislative election:
In the Senate, Hauts-de-Seine is represented by:

André Gattolin, since 2011
Xavier Iacovelli, since 2017
Roger Karoutchi, since 2009
Christine Lavarde, since 2017
Hervé Marseille, since 2011
Pierre Ouzoulias, since 2017
Philippe Pemezec, since 2017