Île-de-France (region)

Région Île-de-France
Region flag	Region logo
Location
Administration
Capital	Paris
Regional President	Jean-Paul Huchon (PS) (since 1998)
Departments	Essonne Hauts-de-Seine Paris Seine-Saint-Denis Seine-et-Marne Val-de-Marne Val-d'Oise Yvelines
Arrondissements	25
Cantons	317
Communes	1,281
Population	(Ranked 1st)
- January 1, 2007 est.	11,577,000
- March 8, [[{{{population_census_year}}}]] census	10,952,011
- Density (2007)	964/km²
1 French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers

Île-de-France (pronounced /il d̪ə fʁɑ̃s/; literally "Island of France") is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France, comprising mostly of the Paris metropolitan area. Created as the "District of the Paris Region" in 1961, it was renamed as the "Île-de-France" région in 1976 when its administrative status was aligned with the other French administrative regions created in 1972. Despite the name change, Île-de-France is still popularly referred to by French people as the Région Parisienne ("Paris Region") or RP. Ninety percent of its territory is covered by the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area") which extends beyond its borders in places.^[1]

With 11.6 million inhabitants Île-de-France is the most populated region of France. It has more residents than Austria, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Sweden, and a comparable population to the U.S. state of Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario. It is the fourth most populous country subdivision in the European Union after England (of the UK), North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria (both of Germany) .

Economically, Île-de-France is one of the richest regions in the world: in 2007 its total GDP as calculated by INSEE was US$731.3 billion at market exchange rates,^[2], nearly as large as the entire Dutch economy,^[3] with a per capita GDP of US$63,025 the same year (at market exchange rates).^[4]

History

Timeline

• 1959: February 4, "District of the Paris Region" (French: district de la région de Paris) created by a government decree. This creation was a failure, due to a lack of cooperation from the communes and the departments of the Paris region which refused to send their representatives to the district council.
• 1961: August 2, District of the Paris Region re-created with the same name, but this time by a statute (bill) voted by the French Parliament. The limits of this new District of the Paris Region were exactly the same as the current Île-de-France region. The district council of the aborted 1959 District of the Paris Region was replaced by a Board of Trustees, half of whose members were appointed by the French government, the other half by the local communes and departments. The executive of the district was a civil servant, the Delegate General for the District of the Paris Region, appointed by the French government.
• 1966: August 10: creation of the Prefecture of the Paris Region, whose limits corresponded exactly to the current Île-de-France region. The Delegate General for the District of the Paris Region was made Prefect of the Paris Region, holding both offices at the same time.
• 1966: December 17: in French the "district de la région de Paris" was renamed "district de la région parisienne" (same meaning in English).
• 1976: May 6: the District of the Paris Region was transformed into the Île-de-France region, thus aligning the status of the Paris Region with that of other French regions, which possessed their status since 1972. The Prefecture of the Paris Region was renamed Prefecture of Île-de-France. The former Board of Trustees was replaced by a regional council, 70% of whose members were the representatives of the departments and communes of Île-de-France, while the remaining 30% were chosen by the Members of the French Parliament whose constituencies lay inside Île-de-France. The regional council elected a president, whose executive powers were limited. The office of Delegate General was abolished. It is said that President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing personally insisted on choosing the name "Île-de-France" for the region, instead of the hitherto used Région Parisienne. Île-de-France was the name of the historical province that existed before the French Revolution, but the name had long since fallen out of use. Today, many people and even some official institutions still continue to use the term "Région Parisienne" instead of the official "Île-de-France".
• 1982: March 2: Île-de-France, like the other French regions, was turned into a "territorial collectivity", i.e., it is no more a mere administrative structure, but a full-fledged political entity, on par with the departments and communes. The powers of the regions were expanded, direct elections of the regional councils were scheduled, and the presidents of the regional councils were given full executive powers.
• 1986: March 16: first direct election of the regional council by the inhabitants of Île-de-France. The powers and visibility of the Île-de-France region are henceforth greatly increased.

Geography

Île-de-France has a land area of 12,011 km² (4,637 sq. miles). The built-up area of Paris fills its 12,011 km² to near 23%, and the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area", a built-up area + commuter belt) extends beyond its borders in places.

Demographics

Île-de-France is composed of eight departments centered around its innermost department and capital, Paris. Around the department of Paris, urbanization fills a first concentric ring of three departments commonly known as the petite couronne ("small ring"), and extends into a second outer ring of four departments known as the grande couronne ("large ring").

Most of Île-de-France is covered by the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area"), a statistical area encompassing the Paris pôle urbain (or "urban area") and its couronne périurbaine commuter belt. At the last census in 1999, 88% of the Île-de-France's population lived in the Paris urban area and 99% of the same regional population lived in the Paris aire urbaine (respectively 9,644,507 people and 10,842,037 people).^[5]

Departments in Île-de-France (INSEE 2005 estimates)

Concentric Area	Departments	Population 2006 est.	Area	Density	1999-2006 yearly pop. growth
	Paris (75)	2,168,000	105 km²	20,648/km²	+0.3%
Inner ring (Petite Couronne)	Hauts-de-Seine (92)	1,532,000	176 km²	8,705/km²	+1.0%
	Seine-Saint-Denis (93)	1,485,000	236 km²	6,292/km²	+1.0%
	Val-de-Marne (94)	1,293,000	245 km²	5,278/km²	+0.8%
Outer ring (Grande Couronne)	Val-d'Oise (95)	1,153,500	1,246 km²	926/km²	+0.6%
	Essonne (91)	1,193,500	1,804 km²	662/km²	+0.7%
	Yvelines (78)	1,398,500	2,284 km²	612/km²	+0.5%
	Seine-et-Marne (77)	1,267,500	5,915 km²	214/km²	+0.9%

Historical population

Immigration

Paris and the Île-de-France region is a magnet for immigrants, hosting one of the largest concentrations of immigrants in Europe. At the French census of March 1999, 2,159,070 residents of the Île-de-France region were people born outside Metropolitan France, making up 19.7% of the Île-de-France total population.^[6] Among these people born outside Metropolitan France, 1,611,989 were immigrants (see definition below the table), making up 14.7% of the Île-de-France total population.^[7] INSEE estimates that on January 1, 2005 the number of immigrants in Île-de-France has reached 1,916,000, making up 16.7% of the Île-de-France total population.^[8] This is an increase of 304,000 immigrants in slightly less than six years.

Politics

Holders of the executive office

• Delegates General for the District of the Paris Region
  • 1961-1969: Paul Delouvrier (civil servant) – Very influential term. Responsible for the creation of the RER express subway network in the Île-de-France and beyond.
  • 1969-1975: Maurice Doublet (civil servant)
  • 1975-1976: Lucien Lanier (civil servant)
• Presidents of the Regional Council of Île-de-France
  • 1976-1988: Michel Giraud (RPR politician) – (1st time)
  • 1988-1992: Pierre-Charles Krieg (RPR politician)
  • 1992-1998: Michel Giraud (RPR politician) – (2nd time)
  • since 1998: Jean-Paul Huchon (PS politician)

See also

References

Further reading

• Econovista, The interactive economic map of Paris Region

• Regional Council of Île-de-France (French)
• Île-de-France travel guide from Wikitravel
• Île-de-France (region) at the Open Directory Project

Regions of France Alsace • Aquitaine • Auvergne • Bourgogne • Bretagne • Centre • Champagne-Ardenne • Corsica • Franche-Comté • Île-de-France • Languedoc-Roussillon • Limousin • Lorraine • Midi-Pyrénées • Nord-Pas de Calais • Basse-Normandie • Haute-Normandie • Pays de la Loire • Picardie • Poitou-Charentes • Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur • Rhône-Alpes Overseas regions: French Guiana • Guadeloupe • Martinique • Réunion