Region of France
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France is a region of France. It covers about 32,000 km² (12,400 mi²), the 9th largest of the 18 regions in Natural Earth’s file for France, and about the same size as Guinea-Bissau. About 6.0 million people live there (Wikidata, 2022).
100 km
- Guinea-Bissau
- Hauts-de-France
Facts
| Area, measured | 32,000 km²12,400 mi² |
|---|---|
| Official area | 31,800 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure |
| Share of France | 5.0%of the area of the 18 regions |
| Rank by area | 9th of 18regions of France |
| Population | 6.0 millionWikidata, 2022 |
| Density | 188 people per km² |
| Capital | Lille |
| Latitude range | 49°N to 51°N |
| Type | RegionFR-HDF |
What the numbers say about Hauts-de-France
- Hauts-de-France covers 5.0% of the area of France and ranks 5th of 18 by population, against 9th by area.
- It would take 19.9 regions the size of Hauts-de-France to cover France.
- The largest, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, is 2.66× the size of Hauts-de-France; the smallest, Mayotte, is 1.2% of it.
- Closest in size within France: Pays de la Loire (32,100 km², 1.00×) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (31,300 km², 1.02×).
- Counted as a country, Hauts-de-France would be larger than 100 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 140th by area, between Guinea-Bissau (32,800 km²) and Belgium (30,700 km²).
- With 6.0 million people it would rank 115th of 238 by population.
- Hauts-de-France has 188 people per km², about the density of Uganda, which has 195 per km².
- That makes Hauts-de-France the 6th most densely populated of the 18 regions, 1.75× the average for France (107 per km²).
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 50°N is drawn about 2.4× too large in area, so Hauts-de-France looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, Hauts-de-France stretches about 249 km north to south and 206 km east to west.
- Wikidata's official figure of 31,800 km² agrees with our measured area of 32,000 km², to within 2%.
About the same size as
Beside the regions of other countries
The closest region by area and by people in each of the other countries that have regional pages here, within a factor of 2. All 395 regions side by side.
- ChinaAreaHainan0.95× · 33,800 km²PeopleQinghai1.01× · 5.9 million (2020)
- United StatesAreaMaryland1.26× · 25,500 km²PeopleWisconsin1.02× · 5.9 million (2020)
- IndiaAreaKerala85% · 37,700 km²PeopleHimachal Pradesh87% · 6.9 million (2011)
- GermanyAreaBrandenburg1.06× · 30,000 km²PeopleHesse0.97× · 6.2 million (2022)
- ItalyAreaSicily (Italy)1.24× · 25,900 km²PeopleLazio1.02× · 5.9 million (2019)
- SpainAreaCatalonia1.00× · 32,000 km²PeopleValencian Community1.13× · 5.3 million (2024)
- JapanAreanone within 2×PeopleChiba0.96× · 6.3 million (2021)
- BrazilAreaAlagoas1.16× · 27,600 km²PeopleMaranhão89% · 6.8 million (2022)
- CanadaAreaNova Scotia58% · 55,100 km²PeopleBritish Columbia1.20× · 5.0 million (2021)
- AustraliaAreanone within 2×PeopleQueensland1.07× · 5.6 million (2024)
- MexicoAreaGuanajuato1.05× · 30,400 km²PeopleGuanajuato1.02× · 5.9 million (2015)
- ThailandAreaChiang Mai1.41× · 22,800 km²PeopleBangkok1.06× · 5.7 million (2018)
Where Hauts-de-France ranks
Hauts-de-France is the 9th largest of the 18 regions of France.
Compare Hauts-de-France
- Qinghai vs Hauts-de-France
- Wisconsin vs Hauts-de-France
- Guinea-Bissau vs Hauts-de-France
- Moldova vs Hauts-de-France
- Hauts-de-France vs Belgium
- Netherlands vs Hauts-de-France
- Hauts-de-France vs El Salvador
- Denmark vs Hauts-de-France
- Finland vs Hauts-de-France
- Nova Scotia vs Hauts-de-France
- Hainan vs Hauts-de-France
- Hauts-de-France vs Alagoas
- Hauts-de-France vs Maryland
- Kerala vs Hauts-de-France
- Hauts-de-France vs Guanajuato
- Hauts-de-France vs Catalonia
- Hauts-de-France vs Brandenburg
- Hauts-de-France vs Sicily (Italy)
- Hauts-de-France vs Chiang Mai
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain: the 5 departments of this region in the file, joined along their shared borders.
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded. The region’s whole area is counted, every island included.
- Official figures
- Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-12
- Population
- Wikidata, 2022. France’s units share the 2022 figures where Wikidata has them; the year is shown wherever the figure is.
- Matching
- Countries come from Natural Earth’s country file. Places whose status is contested and dependencies are never used as automatic matches. A region under 2,500 km² is matched against the small countries and island nations.
- Data built
- 2026-11-12