This region is composed of five departments (Mayenne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Loire-Atlantique and Vendée), with one big city, Nantes (with 500,000 inhabitants) and two smaller cities, Angers (210,000 people) and Le Mans (190,000).

The population used to be relatively young, but it has got older in recent years, except in and around Nantes, the regional metropolis. Located in the Loire estuary where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean, like other regional metropolises, Nantes has turned towards hi-tech industries, but remains the capital of the food industry in general and biscuit production in particular.

From being a mainly agricultural region, this area has seen industrial development via an increasingly close network of small and medium-sized businesses.

Some major sectors, like ship-building in the port of Saint-Nazaire, have shrunk considerably, and new sectors have grown up, like electrical engineering, electronics and services to companies.

The region is most famous in the east for its wines and châteaux and in the west for the Vendée, an area full of history, but also for its many well-known seaside resorts (such as La Baule and Les Sables d'Olonne) with their vast stretches of fine sand.