French departments by legal population in 2013
Population density by department (population per sq km)

This table lists the 101 French departments in descending order of population, area and population density.

Data description

The figures include:

The total population takes into account double counting.

Evolution

Between 1999 and 2006 all French departments have grown in population with the exception of the following seven departments: Allier and Cantal in Auvergne, Creuse in Limousin, Ardennes and Haute-Marne in Champagne-Ardenne, Nièvre in Burgundy, and Vosges in Lorraine. See population decline for more information.

In contrast the seven departments that have gained the most population in absolute value are Haute-Garonne, Gironde, Bouches-du-Rhône, Seine-Saint-Denis, Loire-Atlantique, Hauts-de Seine, and Hérault.

Guadeloupe has seemingly lost population between 1999 and 2008. However, this diminution of the legal population is due to the creation of the overseas communities of Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin. In the 1999 census, the population of Guadeloupe without the arrondissement of Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy was 386,566 inhabitants. The department's population has actually increased by more than 15,000 people over the period based on a constant territory.

List of departments by descending population

2019 Rank Department Legal population in 1931 Legal population in 1999 Legal population in 2008 Legal population in 2019[2] Area (km²) Pop. density (Pop./km²)[3] INSEE Dept. No.
1 Nord 2,029,449 2,555,020 2,564,959 2,608,346 5,743 454 59
2 Paris 2,891,020 2,125,246 2,211,297 2,165,423 105 20,545 75
3 Bouches-du-Rhône 1,101,672 1,835,719 1,966,005 2,043,110 5,087 402 13
4 Rhône 1,046,028 1,578,869 1,690,498 1,875,747 2,715 171 69D
5 Seine-Saint-Denis 769,315 1,382,861 1,506,466 1,644,903 236 6,964 93
6 Hauts-de-Seine 949,231 1,428,881 1,549,619 1,624,357 176 9,250 92
7 Gironde 852,768 1,287,334 1,421,276 1,623,749 10,725 163 33
8 Pas-de-Calais 1,205,191 1,441,568 1,459,531 1,465,278 6,671 220 62
9 Yvelines 408,282 1,354,308 1,406,053 1,448,207 2,284 634 78
10 Loire-Atlantique 652,079 1,134,266 1,255,871 1,429,272 6,815 208 44
11 Seine-et-Marne 406,108 1,193,767 1,303,702 1,421,197 5,915 240 77
12 Lyon Metropolis - - - 1,411,571 534 2,645 69M
13 Val-de-Marne 657,322 1,227,250 1,310,876 1,407,124 245 5,743 94
14 Haute-Garonne 441,799 1,046,338 1,217,344 1,400,039 6,309 222 31
15 Essonne 271,094 1,134,238 1,205,850 1,301,659 1,804 721 91
16 Isère 584,017 1,094,006 1,188,660 1,271,166 7,431 171 38
17 Seine-Maritime 905,278 1,239,138 1,248,580 1,255,633 6,278 200 76
18 Val-d'Oise 353,374 1,105,464 1,165,397 1,249,674 1,246 1,003 95
19 Hérault 514,819 896,441 1,019,798 1,175,623 6,101 193 34
20 Bas-Rhin 688,242 1,026,120 1,091,015 1,140,057 4,755 240 67
21 Alpes-Maritimes 493,376 1,011,326 1,084,428 1,094,283 4,299 255 06
22 Ille-et-Vilaine 562,558 867,533 967,588 1,079,498 6,775 159 35
23 Var 377,104 898,441 1,001,408 1,076,711 5,973 180 83
24 Moselle 693,408 1,023,447 1,042,230 1,046,543 6,216 168 57
25 Finistère 744,295 852,418 890,509 915,090 6,733 136 29
26 Réunion – 706,300 808,250 861,210 2,504 344 974
27 Oise 407,432 766,441 799,725 829,419 5,860 142 60
28 Haute-Savoie 252,794 631,679 716,277 826,094 4,388 188 74
29 Maine-et-Loire 475,991 732,942 774,823 818,273 7,166 115 49
30 Haut-Rhin 516,726 708,025 746,072 767,086 3,525 218 68
31 Loire 664,822 728,524 742,076 765,634 4,781 160 42
32 Morbihan 537,528 643,873 710,034 759,684 6,823 111 56
33 Gard 406,815 623,125 694,323 748,437 5,853 128 30
34 Meurthe-et-Moselle 592,632 713,779 729,768 733,760 5,246 140 54
35 Calvados 401,356 648,385 678,206 694,905 5,548 126 14
36 Vendée 390,396 539,664 616,906 685,442 6,720 102 85
37 Pyrénées-Atlantiques 422,719 600,018 647,420 682,621 7,645 89 64
38 Loiret 342,679 618,126 650,769 680,434 6,775 100 45
39 Puy-de-Dôme 500,590 604,266 628,485 662,152 7,970 83 63
40 Ain 322,918 515,270 581,355 652,432 5,762 113 01
41 Charente-Maritime 415,249 557,024 611,714 651,358 6,864 95 17
42 Indre-et-Loire 335,226 554,003 585,406 610,079 6,127 100 37
43 Côtes-d'Armor 539,531 542,373 581,570 600,582 6,878 87 22
44 Eure 305,788 541,054 577,087 599,507 6,040 99 27
45 Somme 466,626 555,551 568,086 570,559 6,170 93 80
46 Marne 412,156 565,229 566,010 566,855 8,162 69 51
47 Sarthe 384,619 529,851 559,587 566,412 6,206 91 72
48 Vaucluse 241,689 499,685 538,902 561,469 3,567 157 84
49 Saône-et-Loire 538,741 544,893 553,968 551,493 8,575 64 71
50 Doubs 305,500 499,062 522,685 543,974 5,234 104 25
51 Côte-d'Or 333,800 506,755 521,608 534,124 8,763 61 21
52 Aisne 489,368 535,489 538,790 531,345 7,369 72 02
53 Drôme 267,080 437,778 478,069 516,762 6,530 79 26
54 Manche 433,473 481,471 496,937 495,045 5,938 83 50
55 Pyrénées-Orientales 238,647 392,803 441,387 479,979 4,116 117 66
56 Vienne 303,072 399,024 424,354 438,435 6,990 63 86
57 Savoie 235,544 373,258 408,842 436,434 6,028 72 73
58 Eure-et-Loir 254,790 407,665 423,559 431,575 5,880 73 28
59 Landes 257,186 327,334 373,142 413,690 9,243 45 40
60 Dordogne 383,720 388,293 409,388 413,223 9,060 46 24
61 Tarn 302,994 343,402 371,738 389,844 5,758 68 81
62 Guadeloupe – 422,496 401,784 384,239 1,628[4] 236 971
63 Deux-Sèvres 308,481 344,392 365,059 374,878 5,999 63 79
64 Aude 296,880 309,770 349,237 374,070 6,139 61 11
65 Haute-Vienne 335,873 353,893 373,940 372,359 5,520 68 87
66 Martinique – 381,427 397,693 364,508 1,128 323 972
67 Vosges 377,980 380,952 380,145 364,499 5,874 62 88
68 Charente 310,489 339,628 351,581 352,015 5,956 59 16
69 Allier 373,924 344,721 342,807 335,975 7,340 46 03
70 Yonne 275,755 333,221 342,359 335,707 7,427 45 89
71 Lot-et-Garonne 247,500 305,380 326,399 331,271 5,361 62 47
72 Loir-et-Cher 241,592 314,968 326,599 329,470 6,343 52 41
73 Ardèche 282,911 286,023 311,452 328,278 5,529 59 07
74 Aube 242,596 292,131 301,327 310,242 6,004 52 10
75 Mayenne 254,479 285,338 302,983 307,062 5,175 59 53
76 Cher 293,918 314,428 313,251 302,306 7,235 42 18
77 Guyane – 157,213 219,266 281,678 83,534 3 973
78 Orne 273,717 292,337 292,282 279,942 6,103 46 61
79 Aveyron 323,782 263,808 275,889 279,595 8,735 32 12
80 Ardennes 293,746 290,130 284,197 270,582 5,229 52 08
81 Mayotte – 131,320[5] 186,452[6] 269,579[7] 374 720 976
82 Tarn-et-Garonne 164,259 206,034 235,915 260,669 3,718 70 82
83 Jura 229,109 250,857 260,740 259,199 4,999 52 39
84 Corrèze 264,129 232,576 242,896 240,073 5,857 41 19
85 Haute-Saône 219,257 229,732 238,548 235,313 5,360 44 70
86 Hautes-Pyrénées 189,993 222,368 229,079 229,567 4,464 51 65
87 Haute-Loire 251,608 209,113 221,834 227,570 4,977 46 43
88 Indre 247,912 231,139 232,004 219,316 6,791 32 36
89 Nièvre 255,195 225,198 220,653 204,452 6,817 30 58
90 Gers 193,134 172,335 185,266 191,377 6,257 31 32
91 Meuse 215,819 192,198 194,218 184,083 6,211 30 55
92 Haute-Corse – 141,603 162,013 181,933 4,666 39 2B
93 Lot 166,637 160,197 172,796 174,094 5,217 33 46
94 Haute-Marne 189,791 194,873 186,470 172,512 6,211 28 52
95 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 87,566 139,561 157,965 164,308 6,925 24 04
96 Corse-du-Sud – 118,593 140,953 158,507 4,014 40 2A
97 Ariège 161,265 137,205 150,201 153,287 4,890 31 09
98 Cantal 193,505 150,778 148,737 144,692 5,726 25 15
99 Territoire de Belfort 99,403 137,408 141,958 141,318 609 232 90
100 Hautes-Alpes 87,566 121,419 134,205 141,220 5,549 26 05
101 Creuse 207,882 124,470 123,907 116,617 5,565 21 23
102 Lozère 101,849 73,509 76,973 76,604 5,167 15 48

References

  1. ^ Populations légales 2008: Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble, INSEE
  2. ^ a b Populations légales des départements en 2019, INSEE, 29 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Statistiques locales: Densité de population 2019". INSEE.
  4. ^ The population for Guadeloupe no longer includes the populations of Saint Barthélémy and Saint Martin (74 km²)
  5. ^ Census in 1997
  6. ^ Census in 2007
  7. ^ INSEE. "Estimation de population par région, sexe et grande classe d'âge – 2019" (in French). Retrieved 7 July 2022.
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