Hauts-de-Seine

Hauts-de-Seine (92) (literally "Seine Heights") is a département in France. It is part of the region of Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris. It is small and densely populated and contains the modern office, theatre and shopping complex known as La Défense.

Geography
Hauts-de-Seine and two other small départements, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, form a ring around Paris, known as the Petite Couronne (i.e. "inner ring").



Administration


Hauts-de-Seine is made up of three departmental arrondissements and 36 communes:

History
The department of Hauts-de-Seine was created in 1968, from parts of the former départements of Seine and Seine-et-Oise. It's creation reflected the implementation of a law passed in 1964, and Nanterre had already been selected as the prefecture for the new department early in 1965.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Hauts-de-Seine received national attention as the result of a corruption scandal concerning the misuse of public funds provided for the department's housing projects. Implicated were former minister and former President of the general council of the Hauts-de-Seine, Charles Pasqua, and other personalities of the RPR party. (See corruption scandals in the Paris region.)

Economy
Hauts-de-Seine is France's second wealthiest département (behind Paris) and one of Europe's richest areas. Its GDP per capita was € 62,374 in 2003, according to INSEE official figures.