Wikipedia

Yvelines

Yvelines (French pronunciation: [ivlin] ⓘ) is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2023, it had a population of 1,485,086.[4] Its prefecture is Versailles, home to the Palace of Versailles, the principal residence of the King of France from 1682 until 1789, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Yvelines' subprefectures are Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Mantes-la-Jolie and Rambouillet.

Yvelines
Department of France
From top down, left to right: prefecture building in Versailles, view of La Celle-Saint-Cloud, forest and lake in Guyancourt, marble courtyard and gardens of the Palace of Versailles
Flag of Yvelines
Flag
Coat of arms of Yvelines
Coat of arms
Location of Yvelines in France
Location of Yvelines in France
Coordinates: 48°50′N 1°55′E / 48.833°N 1.917°E / 48.833; 1.917
CountryFrance
RegionÎle-de-France
PrefectureVersailles
SubprefecturesMantes-la-Jolie
Rambouillet
Saint-Germain-
en-Laye
Government
 • President of the Departmental CouncilPierre Bédier[1] (LR)
Area
1
 • Total
2,284 km2 (882 sq mi)
Population
 (2023)[2]
 • Total
1,485,086
 • Rank8th
 • Density650.2/km2 (1,684/sq mi)
GDP
[3]
 • Total€60.058 billion (2021)
 • Per capita€42,238 (2021)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number78
Arrondissements4
Cantons21
Communes259
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

History

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Yvelines was created from the western part of the former department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application (a decree specifying how a law should be enforced) from 26 February 1965. It inherited Seine-et-Oise's official number of 78 since it took up the largest portion of its territory. In addition to this, it inherited Seine-et-Oise's prefecture, Versailles.

Yvelines derives its name from the Forest of Yveline, next to Rambouillet.[5]

It gained the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble from the adjacent department of Essonne in 1969.

The departmental capital, Versailles, which grew up around Louis XIV's château, was also the French capital for more than a century under the Ancien Régime and again between 1871 and 1879 during the early years of the Third Republic. Since then the château has continued to welcome the French Parliament when it is called upon to sit in a congressional sitting (with both houses sitting together) in order to enact constitutional changes or to listen to a formal declaration by the President.[6]

Geography

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Situation

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Yvelines is bordered by the departments of Val-d'Oise on the north, Hauts-de-Seine on the east, Essonne on the southeast, Eure-et-Loir on the southwest and Eure on the west.

The eastern part of the department, as well as its northern part along the Seine, is part of the Paris metropolitan area, but the rest of the department is rural, much of it covered by the Forest of Rambouillet (also known as the Forest of Yveline, from which the name of the department is derived).

Two regional parks can be found in Yvelines: Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Natural Park and part of Vexin Français Park. Yvelines is home to one of France's best known golf courses, La Tuilerie-Bignon, in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche.

Principal towns

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Besides Versailles (the prefecture and most populous commune) and the subprefectures of Mantes-la-Jolie, Rambouillet, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, important cities include Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Poissy, Les Mureaux, Houilles, Plaisir, Sartrouville, Chatou, Le Chesnay, and the new agglomeration community of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. As of 2023, there are 24 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The 10 most populous communes are:[7]

Commune Population (2023)
Versailles 84,095
Sartrouville 52,763
Saint-Germain-en-Laye 45,931
Mantes-la-Jolie 43,526
Poissy 40,983
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine 36,958
Trappes 34,689
Les Mureaux 34,632
Houilles 33,983
Montigny-le-Bretonneux 32,465

Demographics

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In French, a man from the Yvelines is called Yvelinois (plural Yvelinois); a woman is Yvelinoise (plural Yvelinoises).

Population development since 1876

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Population data refer to the department in its geography as of January 2025.

Place of birth of residents

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Place of birth of residents of Yvelines in 1999
Born in metropolitan France Born outside metropolitan France
85.5% 14.5%
Born in
overseas France		 Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1 EU-15 immigrants2 Non-EU-15 immigrants
1.1% 3.0% 4.2% 6.2%
1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest 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.

Tourism

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Palaces and châteaux

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Museums

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  • Museum of National Antiques (Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
  • Museum of River and Canal Craft (Conflans-Sainte-Honorine)
  • Horse-drawn Coach Museum (Versailles)
  • Toy Museum (Poissy)
  • Sheep Museum (Rambouillet)
  • Cloth Museum of Jouy (Jouy-en-Josas)
  • National Barn Museum of Port-Royal (Magny-les-Hameaux)
  • International Museum of Naive Art
  • Musée Lambinet (Versailles)
  • Musée de la Grenouillère (Croissy-sur-Seine)
  • Musée Fournaise (Chatou)

Artists' and writers' houses

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Parks and gardens

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Politics

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In both local and national elections, the department generally supports centre-right political candidates. Michel Rocard, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1988 to 1991 under President François Mitterrand, was an MP for the department in the Socialist Party. The president of the Departmental Council is Pierre Bédier, first elected in 2014.

Presidential elections 2nd round

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Members of the National Assembly

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Senators

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In the Senate, Yvelines is represented by:

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 4 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices by NUTS 3 regions". ec.europa.eu.
  4. 1 2 Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE
  5. ↑ Busson (abbé G.) Ledru(abbé A.) Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium (1902), p. 112.
  6. ↑ "Communiqué de la présidence de la République" (in French). Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  7. ↑ Populations de référence 2023: 78 Yvelines, INSEE
  8. ↑ "Historique des Yvelines". Le SPLAF.
  9. ↑ "Les résultats du second tour de l'élection présidentielle". France 24. 19 April 2022.
  10. 1 2 l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Présidentielles". interieur.gouv.fr.
  11. ↑ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle de 1995 par département - Politiquemania". www.politiquemania.com.
  12. ↑ Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.
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