Haut-Rhin () 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 770,738 in 2023.

{| class=wikitable

! Commune

! Population (2023)

|-

| Mulhouse

| style="text-align: center;" | 104,978

|-

| Colmar

| style="text-align: center;" | 66,970

|-

| Saint-Louis

| style="text-align: center;" | 22,805

|-

| Wittenheim

| style="text-align: center;" | 15,553

|-

| Illzach

| style="text-align: center;" | 14,923

|-

| Rixheim

| style="text-align: center;" | 14,380

|-

| Kingersheim

| style="text-align: center;" | 13,354

|-

| Riedisheim

| style="text-align: center;" | 12,200

|-

| Cernay

| style="text-align: center;" | 12,057

|}

Demographics

Population development between 1801 and 2023:

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

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!colspan="2"|Election!!Winning candidate!!Party!!%!!2nd place candidate!!Party!!%

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| 2022

| Emmanuel Macron

| LREM

| 52.90

| Marine Le Pen

| FN

| 47.10

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| 2017

| Emmanuel Macron

| LREM

| 57.97

| Marine Le Pen

| FN

| 42.03

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| 2012

| Nicolas Sarkozy

| UMP

| 63.33

| François Hollande

| PS

| 36.67

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| 2007

| Nicolas Sarkozy

| UMP

| 65.39

| Ségolène Royal

| PS

| 34.61

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| 2002

| Jacques Chirac

| RPR

| 57.26

| Lionel Jospin

| PS

| 42.74

|}

Current National Assembly Representatives

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!colspan="2"|Constituency!!Member!!Party

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 1st constituency

| Brigitte Klinkert

| Renaissance

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 2nd constituency

| Hubert Ott

| MoDem

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 3rd constituency

| Didier Lemaire

| Horizons

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 4th constituency

| Raphaël Schellenberger

| The Republicans

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 5th constituency

| Olivier Becht

| Renaissance

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Haut-Rhin's 6th constituency

| Bruno Fuchs

| MoDem

|}

Tourism

<gallery>

File:Mulhouse - Town hall.jpg|Mulhouse town hall

File:Colmar - Alsace.jpg|Colmar

File:67-Riquewihr-arcade.jpg|Riquewihr

File:2012-11-16 16-00-31-vallee-doller.jpg|View from the Ballon d'Alsace

File:Hunawihr1P7.jpg|Hunawihr and Alsatian vineyards

</gallery>

Transport

The department's main airport is served by EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg located in Saint-Louis, it provides air travel for the department as well as Basel-Stadt in the nearby border of Switzerland and Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany. Strasbourg Airport is another alternative airport that the department also uses, it is located north of Mulhouse.

Culture

  • Alsatian language

See also

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

References

  • Prefecture website
  • Collectivité européenne d'Alsace