Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it neighbours the cantons of Geneva and Vaud.

[4] Ain is composed of four geographically different areas (Bresse, Dombes, Bugey and Pays de Gex), each of which contribute to the diverse and dynamic economic development of the department.

In Bresse, agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk and cheese production as well as poultry farming.

It is bordered by Jura to the north; Saône-et-Loire to the northwest; Rhône and the Lyon Metropolis to the southwest; Isère to the south; Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Switzerland to the east.

In 58 BC, Julius Caesar's military action against the Helvetians, advancing through Gaul over the territory of today's Ain, marked the beginning of the Gallic Wars.

In 1272, when Sibylle de Bâgé, sole heir, married Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, they added Bresse to their domains, and – by the Treaties of Paris in 1355 – the territories of Dauphiné and Gex on the right bank of the Rhône.

During the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601, Henri IV of France reconquered the region, although the citadel of Bourg remained impregnable.

On 28 March 1762, the Count of Eu, son of the Duke of Maine, ceded the region of Dombes to Louis XV.

World War II (1939–1945) vehemently struck the department of Ain and took its toll as 600 people were deported, half whom did not return.

Commemorating this tragic era are: the monument of the Maquis in Cerdon, the memorial of the children of Izieu, and the museum of the resistance and deportation in Nantua.

As of 2019, there are 8 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:[4] Ain is situated at the crossroads of a large national and international flow of commodities and is therefore an important transit region.

In addition to a well-developed transport network of former national roads, which were transferred to the department in 2007, Ain is crisscrossed by 220 km of highway.

In Bourg-en-Bresse, they include the Centre for University Studies, Alimentec, the Ecole Supérieure de Plasturgie, the commercial college of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and a branch of the Lyon faculty of education.

Two streams of study can be followed, applied nutritional sciences or towards qualification by the commercial college of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Also situated in Bourg-en-Bresse is a branch of the Lyon faculty of education, providing 450 places for future school teachers.

In Bellignat, at the heart of the 'plastics valley', a polytechnic university was founded in 1992, under the direct control of the Ministry of youth, education and research.

Although it is headquartered just across the border in Geneva, most of CERN's Large Hadron Collider lies in parts of several communes in the Arrondissement of Gex in Ain.

In addition to a multitude of SME's, several big enterprises of international reputation are situated in Ain, such as: Roset-Cinna, Grosfillex, Volvo, Carrier, Smoby-Berchet, CIAT, Renault Trucks, Tréfileurope.

The plastics industry, which is located mainly around the city of Oyonnax, is a highly productive branch of the economy and enjoys an excellent reputation.

The pillars of the agro-industry are an efficient agriculture providing for a significant number of high quality products as well as the presence of several leading companies of this branch.

In 1992 the city of Bourg-en-Bresse, the department of Ain, and the local Chamber of Industry and Commerce founded the technology platform "Alimentec".

Due to the diversity of the activities of these industries and their dispersion over the whole department, polarisation effects similar to those in the plastics sector have not yet been observed.

Thanks to its vast forests (more than a third of the department's land area), the timber industry employed (in September 2007) approximately 4,500 workers.

The commercial sector comprises 5,861 enterprises including 717 wholesalers and distributors (12.2%), 539 automobile dealers and garages as well as 1,643 retailers and repair businesses (28%) (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006).

With a total of 22,973 employees and 9,000 self-employed persons, the commercial sector contributes significantly to overall employment in the department (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006).

More than three-thirds[clarification needed] of the expenses of the private households amounting to €4.4 billion per year are feeding the commercial businesses inside the department which stand their ground vis-à-vis external competition.

The strongly expanding services sector represents 46.6% of all enterprises and about 55,000 employees (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006).

In economic terms, tourism in Ain means €300 million of business volume and 10,000 direct jobs as well as another 10,000 indirect employments.

In 2006, 700,000 tourists visited sites of interest in the department (museums, castles, religious monuments, gardens and caves).

[12] The Senators for Ain are Sylvie Goy-Chavent (Union of Democrats and Independents), Florence Blatrix-Contat (Socialist Party) and Patrick Chaize (The Republicans).