ÃŽle-de-France (region)

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Île-de-France is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France. Ninety percent of its territory is covered by the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area") which extends beyond its borders in places. Created as the "District of the Paris Region" in 1961, it was renamed as the "Île-de-France" région in 1976 to bring it into line with the rest of France's 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.

ÃŽle-de-France is the most populated region of France. It has more residents than Belgium, Greece, Austria, Portugal or 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, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.

Economically, Île-de-France is one of the richest regions in the world: its total GDP was €500.8 billion in 2006 (US$629.2 billion at 2006 real exchange rates), nearly the entire GDP of the Netherlands, with a per capita GDP at €43,370 (US$54,482) the same year.

History

• 1959: February 4, "District of the Paris Region" (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 ÃŽle-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 ÃŽle-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 ÃŽle-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 ÃŽle-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 ÃŽle-de-France, while the remaining 30% were chosen by the Members of the French Parliament whose constituencies lay inside ÃŽle-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 "ÃŽle-de-France" for the region, instead of the hitherto used Région Parisienne. ÃŽle-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 "ÃŽle-de-France".
• 1982: March 2: ÃŽle-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 ÃŽle-de-France. The powers and visibility of the ÃŽle-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

ÃŽle-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).

Departments in ÃŽle-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

ÃŽle-de-France Population

1801 census	1806 census	1821 census	1826 census	1831 census	1836 census	1841 census	1846 census	1851 census	1856 census	1861 census	1866 census	1872 census
1,352,280	1,407,272	1,549,811	1,780,900	1,707,181	1,882,354	1,998,862	2,180,100	2,239,695	2,552,980	2,819,045	3,039,043	3,141,730
1876 census	1881 census	1886 census	1891 census	1896 census	1901 census	1906 census	1911 census	1921 census	1926 census	1931 census	1936 census	1946 census
3,320,162	3,726,118	3,934,314	4,126,932	4,368,656	4,735,580	4,960,310	5,335,220	5,682,598	6,146,178	6,705,579	6,785,750	6,597,758
1954 census	1962 census	1968 census	1975 census	1982 census	1990 census	1999 census	2002 estimate	2003 estimate	2004 estimate	2005 estimate	2006 estimate	2007 estimate
7,317,063	8,470,015	9,248,631	9,878,565	10,073,059	10,660,554	10,952,011	11,176,008	11,250,617	11,319,972	11,399,319	11,490,968	11,577,000
Census returns before 2000; official Jan. 1 estimates from INSEE after 2000.

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 ÃŽle-de-France and beyond.
• 1969-1975: Maurice Doublet (civil servant)
• 1975-1976: Lucien Lanier (civil servant)
• Presidents of the Regional Council of ÃŽle-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

External links

• Regional Council of ÃŽle-de-France

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