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The region consists of the Departments of: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne & Val-d'Oise. The traditional Provinces of: Ile-de-France, Orleanais & Champagne.

Île-de-France is one of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area. Created as the "District of the Paris Region" in 1961, it was renamed as the "Île-de-France" région in 1976 when its administrative status was aligned with the other French administrative regions created in 1972. Despite the name change, Île-de-France is still popularly referred to by French people as the Région Parisienne ("Paris Region") or RP. Ninety percent of its territory is covered by the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area") which extends beyond its borders in places. With 11.6 million inhabitants Île-de-France is the most populated region of France. It

Île-de-France is composed of eight departments centered around its innermost department and capital, Paris. Around the department of Paris, urbanization fills a first concentric ring of three departments commonly known as the petite couronne 'small ring', and extends into a second outer ring of four departments known as the grande couronne 'large ring'. Most of Île-de-France is covered by the Paris aire urbaine (or "metropolitan area"), a statistical area encompassing the Paris pôle urbain (or urban area) and its couronne périurbaine commuter belt. At the last census in 1999, 88% of the Île-de-France's population lived in the Paris urban area and 99% of the same regional population lived in the Paris aire urbaine (respectively 9,644,507 people and 10,842,037 people)