Néchin is a town of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

and district of the municipality of

Estaimpuis Estaimpuis ( or ; nl, Steenput; pcd, Timpu) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It consists of the following districts: , Estaimbourg, Estaimpuis, , , Néchin, and . The municipality is located in Pica ...

, located in the

province of Hainaut Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (cloc ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, near the border with France's Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. It was a municipality until the

fusion of the Belgian municipalities The fusion of the Belgian municipalities (French: ''fusion des communes'', Dutch: ''fusie van Belgische gemeenten'') was a Belgian political process that rationalized and reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium between 1975 and 1983. In ...

in 1977. The village of Néchin has become known for the number of French millionaires and billionaires living there. It benefits from its location next to the French border, very close to

Lille Métropole Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

metropolitan area, and from Belgium's tax laws which are advantageous to people with high earnings from stock or capital gains, compared to the laws in France. Members of the

Mulliez family The Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) is the holding company of the Mulliez family. The entrepreneur family originates from around the Lille area of France, and is one of the wealthiest families in the country. AFM was founded in 1955 by Gé ...

, owners of the

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% ...

hypermarket chain and

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ ...

sports stores, own a number of properties. In 2012 it was reported that

Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 al ...

was purchasing a house in the village.

References

Former municipalities of Hainaut (province) {{Hainaut-geo-stub