The Western region is the first of the ten administrative regions or départements of Haiti.

 

The region covers 4,827 km2 with an estimated population of 3.6 million in 2009.

 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital and political and economic hub is located in this department.

 

The department’s landmass is concentrated in the southern half of Haiti and stretches from the Gulf of Gonâve on the west to the border with the Dominican Republic on the east. With more than 3 million inhabitants, the West Region is by far the most populous of Haiti’s ten departments and accounts for a third of the country’s population.

 

Two thirds of the department’s population is concentrated in Port-au-Prince and its rapidly expanding suburbs. As a result, the suburbs of Delmas, Pétion-Ville and Carrefour are among the country’s largest cities.