Seine-Saint-Denis (French pronunciation: [sɛn sɛ̃ d(ə)ni]) is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the Île-de-France region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as quatre-vingt treize or neuf trois ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobigny.

Seine-Saint-Denis
Basilica of Saint-Denis
Flag of Seine-Saint-Denis
Coat of arms of Seine-Saint-Denis
Location of Seine-Saint-Denis in France
Location of Seine-Saint-Denis in France
Coordinates: 48°54′N 02°29′E / 48.900°N 2.483°E / 48.900; 2.483
CountryFrance
RegionÎle-de-France
PrefectureBobigny
SubprefecturesLe Raincy
Saint-Denis
Government
 • President of the Departmental CouncilStéphane Troussel[1] (PS)
 • PrefectJacques Witkowski
Area
 • Total
236 km2 (91 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
 • Total
1,668,670
 • Rank4th
 • Density7,100/km2 (18,000/sq mi)
GDP
 • Total€66.227 billion (2021)
 • Per capita€38,688 (2021)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number93
Arrondissements3
Cantons21
Communes40
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

In 2019, it had a population of 1,644,903 across 40 communes.[4] In French, the learned but rarely used demonym for the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis is Séquano-Dionysiens; more common is Dionysiens.

Geography

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The department is surrounded by the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Paris, Val-d'Oise, and Seine-et-Marne. It is thus one of only five French departments surrounded entirely by other departments of the same region.

Seine-Saint-Denis is located to the northeast of Paris. It has a surface area of only 236 km2 (91 sq mi), making it one of the smallest departments in France. Seine-Saint-Denis and two other small departments, Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne, form a ring around Paris, known as the Petite Couronne ("little crown"). Since 1 January 2016, together with Paris, they have formed the area of Greater Paris (Grand Paris).

 

Principal towns

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The most populous commune is Saint-Denis; the prefecture Bobigny is the eleventh-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 70,000 inhabitants:[4]

Commune Population (2019)
Saint-Denis 112,852
Montreuil 111,240
Aubervilliers 88,948
Aulnay-sous-Bois 86,969
Drancy 72,376

Administration

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Seine-Saint-Denis is made up of three departmental arrondissements and 40 communes:

 

History

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Seine-Saint-Denis was created in January 1968, through the implementation of a law passed in July 1964. It was formed from the part of the (hitherto larger) Seine department to the north and north-east of the Paris ring road (and the line of the old city walls), together with a small slice taken from Seine-et-Oise.

Seine-Saint-Denis has a history as a left-wing stronghold, belonging to the ceinture rouge (red belt) of Paris. The French Communist Party has maintained a continued strong presence in the department, and still controls the city councils in cities such as Saint-Denis, Montreuil and La Courneuve. Until 2008, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne were the only departments where the Communist Party had a majority in the general councils but the 2008 cantonal elections saw the socialists become the strongest group at the Seine-Saint-Denis general council (while the Communist Party gained a majority in Allier and lost it in 2015).

A commune of Seine-Saint-Denis, Clichy-sous-Bois, was the scene of the death of two youths which sparked the nationwide riots of autumn 2005. In October and November, 9,000 cars were burned and 3,000 rioters were arrested.

In 2018, the department had the highest crime rate in metropolitan France.[5] In 2017, the area was the location of 18% of all drug offences in metropolitan France.[5]

Demographics

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Seine-Saint-Denis is the French department with the highest proportion of immigrants: 21.7% at the 1999 census (see table below). An immigrant according to INSEE is anyone born non-French within or outside France and as such, this figure does not include people born French but with a migrant background or from overseas France. The ratio of ethnic minorities is difficult to estimate accurately as French law prohibits the collection of ethnic data for census taking purposes.

In 2018, the poverty rate was twice the national average at 28%, the unemployment rate was 3% above the national average, at 12.7%. In 2018, it was estimated that 8–20% of the population in the department were illegal immigrants.[6]

Population development since 1881:

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1881180,412—    
1891230,992+2.50%
1901307,329+2.90%
1911411,443+2.96%
1921504,956+2.07%
1931769,315+4.30%
1936776,378+0.18%
1946730,361−0.61%
1954845,231+1.84%
YearPop.±% p.a.
19621,083,724+3.16%
19681,249,606+2.40%
19751,322,127+0.81%
19821,324,301+0.02%
19901,381,197+0.53%
19991,382,861+0.01%
20061,491,972+1.09%
20111,529,928+0.50%
20161,606,660+0.98%
Sources:[7][8]

Education

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An education study confirmed falling levels of literacy in the area, where the percentage of pupils who had 25 errors or more increased from 5.4% in 1987 to 19.8% in 2015.[5]

Place of birth of residents

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Place of birth of residents of Seine-Saint-Denis in 1999
Born in metropolitan France Born outside metropolitan France
72.5% 27.5%
Born in
overseas France
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1 EU-15 immigrants2 Non-EU-15 immigrants
3.1% 2.7% 4.4% 17.3%
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.

Politics

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The president of the Departmental Council is Stéphane Troussel, first elected in 2012.

Presidential elections 2nd round

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Election Winning Candidate Party % 2nd Place Candidate Party %
2022[9] Emmanuel Macron LREM 73.72 Marine Le Pen FN 26.28
2017[10] Emmanuel Macron LREM 78.82 Marine Le Pen FN 21.18
2012 François Hollande PS 65.32 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 34.68
2007 Ségolène Royal PS 56.54 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 43.46
2002[10] Jacques Chirac RPR 82.56 Jean-Marie Le Pen FN 17.44
1995[11] Lionel Jospin PS 51.84 Jacques Chirac RPR 48.16

Current National Assembly Representatives

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Seine-Saint-Denis's constituencies for the National Assembly.
Constituency Member[12] Party
Seine-Saint-Denis's 1st constituency Éric Coquerel La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 2nd constituency Stéphane Peu French Communist Party
Seine-Saint-Denis's 3rd constituency Thomas Portes La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 4th constituency Soumya Bourouaha French Communist Party
Seine-Saint-Denis's 5th constituency Raquel Garrido La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 6th constituency Bastien Lachaud La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 7th constituency Alexis Corbière La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 8th constituency Fatiha Keloua Hachi Socialist Party
Seine-Saint-Denis's 9th constituency Aurélie Trouvé La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 10th constituency Nadège Abomangoli La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 11th constituency Clémentine Autain La France Insoumise
Seine-Saint-Denis's 12th constituency Jérôme Legavre La France Insoumise

Tourism

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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. ^ "Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices by NUTS 3 regions". ec.europa.eu.
  4. ^ a b Populations légales 2019: 93 Seine-Saint-Denis, INSEE
  5. ^ a b c "N° 1014 - Rapport d'information de MM. François Cornut-Gentille et Rodrigue Kokouendo déposé en application de l'article 146-3 du règlement, par le comité d'évaluation et de contrôle des politiques publiques sur l'évaluation de l'action de l'État dans l'exercice de ses missions régaliennes en Seine-Saint-Denis". www.assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
  6. ^ "Immigration clandestine : la Seine-Saint-Denis débordée". FIGARO (in French). 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
  7. ^ "Historique de la Seine-Saint-Denis". Le SPLAF.
  8. ^ "Évolution et structure de la population en 2016". INSEE.
  9. ^ "Les résultats du second tour de l'élection présidentielle". 19 April 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Présidentielles".
  11. ^ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle de 1995 par département - Politiquemania".
  12. ^ Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.

Further reading

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