Perhaps the most historic area of all, with its châteaux, cathedrals, churches and abbeys, the Ile-de-France is also the region with the highest population figures and the most important economically and in terms of tourism.

Seine valley near Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France region)

The Ile-de-France centres around Paris and is made up of 7 departments (counties). The three nearest to the capital, which form the "petite couronne" or inner suburbs, are the Hauts-de-Seine (with 1.4 million inhabitants), Seine Saint-Denis (1.3 million) and the Val de Marne (1.2 million).

The four furthest from Paris, which form the "grande couronne" or commuter belt, are the Essonne (with 1.08 million inhabitants), Seine-et-Marne (1.7 million), the Val d'Oise (1.4 million) and the Yvelines (1.2 million).

New town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Ile-de-France region)

The population of the Ile-de-France (known as the Franciliens) is therefore about 11 million people (including 2.1 million in Paris), spread over an area of slightly more than 12 000 km2 (2.2% of French territory), with a population density of 914 inhabitants per km2 (the average population density in France is 106.2 inhabitants per km2).

Although 19% of the French population live in the Ile-de-France (which has a relatively young population, 34.5% of whom are under 25), more and more people are leaving the Paris area (an average of 70,000 per year since 1990). However, if we take into account the 100,000 people who move to the Ile-de-France every year, the net result is a growth in population of 0.6% per year which makes the Ile-de-France the region with the sixth highest rate of population growth.

The main reasons why people leave are living conditions, journey times, pollution and insecurity ­ in other words, insufficient or poor quality of life.

Church in Samoreau, a village on the Seine (Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France region)

Economically, the Ile-de-France is the most important French region. It has the biggest regional budget, the most jobs and the highest disposable income per inhabitant (in this area, the average salary before deduction of national insurance contributions is 35% higher than that of inhabitants of other regions).

But, like many other regions, the Ile-de-france has been hit by the recession: 123,000 jobs were lost between 1991 and 1993; and the area has 11% unemploment (the national average is 12.5%).

Vaux-le-Vicomte château (Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France region)

One job in two is linked to companies whose headquarters are in the Ile-de-France. The biggest of these is the RATP (the metro company) followed by Euro Disney (the newest on the list),Renault, Peugeot, Air France, Bouygues and Citroèn ­ in other words, some of the biggest French companies.

The GDP of the Ile-de-France represents 30% of the national GDP, and is three times as high as the second most economically important French region, Rhône-Alpes.

Over 73% of economic activity in the Ile-de-France is in the tertiary sector (trade and services), which provides over 2.5 million jobs. Around 1 million work in the banking sector (half of the 350 or so French banks are based in the Ile-de-France) and 600,000 in the administrative departments in Paris.

Château de Versailles on a winter's evening (Yvelines, Ile-de-France region)

The secondary sector (industry) accounts for 21.5% of the total activity in the region and is mainly in the automotive industry, aircraft construction, electrical engineering and electronics, and the chemical and pharmaceutical products used in printing books and newspapers.

Finally, the primary sector (agriculture) now makes up only a tiny percentage (0.2%) of the region's wealth.

The regional authorities aim to make the Ile-de-France a sort of economic capital of Europe by encouraging big foreign companies to make investments in the area (to give an example, IBM has just invested 1 billion francs in its factory in Corbeil-Essonnes).

Interior of Vaux-le-Vicomte castle (Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France region)

Tourism is of course one of the strengths of the Ile-de-France. In 1997 alone, 36 million tourists and business people visited the region and Paris is still the most visited city in the world. Euro Disneyland in Marne-la-Vallée received 12.6 million visitors, but the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris also welcomed 12 million. And whilst the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum are visited by millions of tourists, the great châteaux and museums elsewhere in theregion (Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Chantilly, Malmaison and so on) are also very popular.