Haut-Rhin

Haut-Rhin (French pronunciation: [oʁɛ̃] ^ⓘ)^[3] is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departments of the former administrative Alsace region, the other being Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine), especially after the 1871 cession of the southern territory known since 1922 as the Territoire de Belfort, although it is still rather densely populated compared to the rest of metropolitan France. It had a population of 767,083 in 2021.^[4]

Haut-Rhin 's Owerlànd / Owerelsàss (Alemannic German)
Department of France
Prefecture building of the Haut-Rhin department, in Colmar
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Haut-Rhin in France
Coordinates: 47°57′51″N 7°19′11″E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Prefecture	Colmar
Subprefectures	Altkirch Mulhouse Thann
Government
• Prefect	Louis Laugier[1]
Area 1
• Total	3,525 km2 (1,361 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	767,800
• Rank	29th
• Density	220/km2 (560/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	68
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	17
Communes	366
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

On 1 January 2021, the départemental collectivities of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin were merged into the European Collectivity of Alsace.

History

Haut-Rhin is one of the original 83 départements, created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790 through the application of the law of 22 December 1789 in respect of the southern half of the province of Alsace (Haute-Alsace).

Its boundaries have been modified many times:

• 1798, it absorbed Mulhouse, formerly a free city, and the last Swiss enclave in the south of Alsace;
• 1800, it absorbed the whole département of Mont-Terrible;
• 1814, it lost the territories which had been part of Mont-Terrible, which were returned to Switzerland, except for the former County of Montbéliard;
• 1816, it lost Montbéliard, which was transferred to the département of Doubs;
• 1871, it was mostly annexed by the German Empire (Treaty of Frankfurt); the remaining French part formed the Territoire de Belfort in 1922;
• 1919, it was reverted to France (Treaty of Versailles) but remains administratively separated from Belfort.
• 1940, it was annexed de facto by Nazi Germany.
• 1944, it was recovered by France.

Geography

Haut-Rhin is bordered by the Territoire de Belfort and Vosges départements and the Vosges Mountains to the west, the Bas-Rhin département to the North, Switzerland to the south and its eastern border with Germany is also the Rhine. In the centre of the département lies a fertile plain. The climate is semi-continental.

Subdivisions

The department consists of the following arrondissements:

• Altkirch
• Colmar-Ribeauvillé
• Mulhouse
• Thann-Guebwiller

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Mulhouse; the prefecture Colmar is the second-most populous. As of 2021, there are 11 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:^[4]

Commune	Population (2021)
Mulhouse	106,341
Colmar	67,730
Saint-Louis	22,698
Wittenheim	15,262
Illzach	14,829
Rixheim	13,795
Kingersheim	13,178
Riedisheim	12,163
Cernay	11,745
Guebwiller	11,137
Wittelsheim	10,334

Demographics

Population development between 1801 and 2016:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 272,334 —     1806 299,877 +1.95% 1821 326,633 +0.57% 1831 375,473 +1.40% 1841 409,683 +0.88% 1851 436,744 +0.64% 1861 459,554 +0.51% 1871 458,873 −0.01% 1880 461,942 +0.07% 1890 471,609 +0.21% 1900 495,209 +0.49% 1910 517,865 +0.45% 1921 468,943 −0.90%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 516,726 +0.98% 1936 507,551 −0.36% 1946 471,705 −0.73% 1954 509,647 +0.97% 1962 547,920 +0.91% 1968 585,018 +1.10% 1975 635,209 +1.18% 1982 650,372 +0.34% 1990 671,319 +0.40% 1999 708,025 +0.59% 2006 736,475 +0.56% 2011 753,056 +0.45% 2016 762,743 +0.26%
source:[5][6]

Economy

Haut-Rhin is one of the richest French départements. Mulhouse is the home of the Stellantis Mulhouse Plant automobile factory, where the Peugeot 2008 and Peugeot 508 are currently built. The lowest unemployment rate in France can be found in the Southern Sundgau region (approximately 2%). The countryside is marked by hills. Many Haut-Rhinois work in Switzerland, especially in the chemical industries of Basel, but commute from France where living costs are lower. However, the region does have some of France's worst socio-economic inequalities; Mulhouse has long been one of France's poorest major cities.

Law

Alsace and the adjacent Moselle department have a legal system slightly different from the rest of France. The statutes in question date from the period 1871–1919 when the area was part of the German Empire. With the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Paris accepted that Alsace and Moselle should retain some local laws in respect of certain matters, especially with regard to hunting, economic life, local government relationships, health insurance and social rights. It includes notably the absence of any formal separation between church and state: several mainstream denominations of the Christian church benefit from state funding, in contrast to principles applied in the rest of France.

Politics

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%	2nd Place Candidate	Party	%
	2022	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	52.90	Marine Le Pen	FN	47.10
	2017[7]	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	57.97	Marine Le Pen	FN	42.03
	2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	63.33	François Hollande	PS	36.67
	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	65.39	Ségolène Royal	PS	34.61
	2002[7]	Jacques Chirac	RPR	77.65	Jean-Marie Le Pen	FN	22.35
	1995[8]	Jacques Chirac	RPR	57.26	Lionel Jospin	PS	42.74

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member[9]	Party
	Haut-Rhin's 1st constituency	Éric Straumann	The Republicans
	Haut-Rhin's 2nd constituency	Jacques Cattin	The Republicans
	Haut-Rhin's 3rd constituency	Jean-Luc Reitzer	The Republicans
	Haut-Rhin's 4th constituency	Raphaël Schellenberger	The Republicans
	Haut-Rhin's 5th constituency	Olivier Becht	Agir
	Haut-Rhin's 6th constituency	Bruno Fuchs	La République En Marche!

Tourism

• 
  Mulhouse town hall
• 
  Colmar
• 
  Riquewihr
• 
  View from the Ballon d'Alsace
• 
  Hunawihr and Alsatian vineyards

Culture

• Alsatian language

See also

• Cantons of the Haut-Rhin department
• Communes of the Haut-Rhin department
• Arrondissements of the Haut-Rhin department