You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (October 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|topic= will aid in categorization.Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Orne (département)]]; see its history for attribution.{{Translated|fr|Orne (département)}} to the talk page. |
Orne (French pronunciation: [ɔʁn] ⓘ; Norman: ÔrneorOrne) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.[3]
Orne
| |
|---|---|
Prefecture building of the Orne department, in Alençon
| |
Flag 
Coat of arms | |
Location of Orne in France
| |
| Coordinates: 48°42′N 0°0′E / 48.700°N 0.000°E / 48.700; 0.000 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Prefecture | Alençon |
| Subprefectures | Argentan Mortagne-au-Perche |
| Government | |
| • President of the Departmental Council | Christophe de Balorre[1] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6,103 km2 (2,356 sq mi) |
| Population
(2021)[2]
| |
| • Total | 276,973 |
| • Rank | 78th |
| • Density | 45/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Department number | 61 |
| Arrondissements | 3 |
| Cantons | 21 |
| Communes | 385 |
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |
Orne is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provincesofNormandy and Perche. It is the birthplace of Charlotte Corday, Girondist and the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat.
Orne is in the regionofNormandy neighbouring Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, Manche, Mayenne, and Calvados. It is the only department of Normandy not to border the English Channel.
The largest town by a considerable margin is the prefecture, Alençon, which is an administrative and commercial centre for what is still an overwhelmingly rural department. There are no large industrial centres, and agriculture remains the economic focus.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sources:[4][5] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The inhabitants of the department are called Ornais.
The recorded population level peaked at 443,688 in 1836. Declining farm incomes and the lure of better prospects in the overseas empire led to a sustained reduction in population levels in many rural departments. By the time of the 1936 census, the recorded population stood at just 269,331. Once motor car ownership started to surge in the 1960s, employment opportunities became less restricted and by 1982, the population level had recovered a little to 295,000, after which it slowly decreased.
The most populous commune is Alençon, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:[3]
| Commune | Population (2019) |
|---|---|
| Alençon | 25,870 |
| Flers | 14,762 |
| Argentan | 13,395 |
| L'Aigle | 7,961 |
| La Ferté Macé | 5,186 |
The president of the Departmental Council is Christophe de Balorre, elected in 2017.
| Election | Winning Candidate | Party | % | 2nd Place Candidate | Party | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022[6] | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 55.12 | Marine Le Pen | RN | 44.88 | |
| 2017 | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 61.64 | Marine Le Pen | FN | 38.36 | |
| 2012 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 52.89 | François Hollande | PS | 47.11 | |
| 2007 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 57.66 | Ségolène Royal | PS | 42.34 | |
| 2002[7] | Jacques Chirac | RPR | 81.30 | Jean-Marie Le Pen | FN | 18.70 | |
| Constituency | Member[8] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orne's 1st constituency | Joaquim Pueyo | Socialist Party | |
| Orne's 2nd constituency | Véronique Louwagie | The Republicans | |
| Orne's 3rd constituency | Jérôme Nury | The Republicans | |
Alençon is the chief town of the Orne department.
Camembert, the village where Camembert cheese is made, is located in Orne.
The local dialect is known as Augeron.
