Essonne (French pronunciation: [ɛsɔn] ⓘ) is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.[4]
Essonne
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Flag 
Coat of arms | |
Location of Essonne in France
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| Coordinates: 48°30′N 02°17′E / 48.500°N 2.283°E / 48.500; 2.283 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Prefecture | Évry-Courcouronnes |
| Subprefectures | Étampes Palaiseau |
| Government | |
| • President of the Departmental Council | François Durovray[1] (LR) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,804 km2 (697 sq mi) |
| Population
(2021)[2]
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| • Total | 1,313,768 |
| • Rank | 14th |
| • Density | 730/km2 (1,900/sq mi) |
| GDP | |
| • Total | €58.462 billion (2021) |
| • Per capita | €44,500 (2021) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Department number | 91 |
| Arrondissements | 3 |
| Cantons | 21 |
| Communes | 194 |
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |
Essonne was formed on 1 January 1968, when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments. Its prefectureisÉvry-Courcouronnes. Its INSEE and postcode number is 91.
The Essonne department was created on 1 January 1968,[why?] from the southern portion of the former department of Seine-et-Oise.
In June 1963, Carrefour S.A. opened the first hypermarket in the Paris regionatSainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (although the word『hypermarché』was first used only in 1966). Based on the ideas put forward by the American logistics pioneer Bernardo Trujillo,[5] the centre offered on a single 2,500 m2 (26,909.78 sq ft) site a hitherto unknown combination of wide choice and low prices, supported by 400 car parking spaces.
In 1969, the communesofChâteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble were separated from Essonne and added to the department of Yvelines.
Essonne belongs to the region of Île-de-France.
It has borders with the departments of:
All of northern Essonne department belongs to the Parisian agglomeration and is very urbanized. The south remains rural.
The most populous commune is Évry-Courcouronnes, the prefecture. As of 2019, the 5 most populous communes are:[4]
| Commune | Population (2019) |
|---|---|
| Évry-Courcouronnes | 66,851 |
| Corbeil-Essonnes | 51,234 |
| Massy | 50,644 |
| Savigny-sur-Orge | 36,577 |
| Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois | 35,830 |
In descending order, the other communes over 25,000 population are: Athis-Mons, Palaiseau, Vigneux-sur-Seine, Viry-Châtillon, Ris-Orangis, Yerres, Draveil, Grigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, Étampes, Brunoy and Les Ulis.[4] Milly-la-Forêt is a notable example of its more rural communes.
The department's most high-profile political representative has been Manuel Valls, who was Prime Minister of France from 31 March 2014 to 6 December 2016. Valls visited its main town, Évry, to deliver remarks following the Charlie Hebdo massacre of January 2015. The president of the Departmental Council is François Durovray, elected in 2015.
| Election | Winning Candidate | Party | % | 2nd Place Candidate | Party | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022[6] | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 65.43 | Marine Le Pen | FN | 34.57 | |
| 2017[7] | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 72.18 | Marine Le Pen | FN | 27.82 | |
| 2012 | François Hollande | PS | 53.43 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 46.57 | |
| 2007 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 52.08 | Ségolène Royal | PS | 47.92 | |
| 2002[7] | Jacques Chirac | RPR | 84.96 | Jean-Marie Le Pen | FN | 15.04 | |
| 1995[8] | Jacques Chirac | RPR | 53.30 | Lionel Jospin | PS | 15.04 | |
Population development since 1876:
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| Born in metropolitan France | Born outside metropolitan France | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 84.7% | 15.3% | |||
| Born in overseas France |
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1 | EU-15 immigrants2 | Non-EU-15 immigrants | |
| 1.8% | 2.8% | 4.0% | 6.7% | |
| 1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirsinNorthwest 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. | ||||
Essonne is twinned with:
Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan (since 1986)