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- The 57 urban units with more than 100 000 inhabitants
The 57 urban units with more than 100 000 inhabitants
| (a): agglomerations extending over several départements. | |||
| *: international agglomeration (French part). | |||
| Source : INSEE, population censuses. | |||
| Annual rate of change (%) | |||
| Urban unit | Population in 1999 | 90-99 | 82-90 |
| (a) Paris | 9 644 507 | 0,20 | 0,56 |
| (a) Marseille-Aix-en-Provence | 1 349 772 | 0,29 | -0,14 |
| (a) Lyon | 1 348 832 | 0,45 | 0,47 |
| 59 Lille* | 1 000 900 | 0,25 | 0,20 |
| 06 Nice | 888 784 | 0,42 | 1,16 |
| 31 Toulouse | 761 090 | 1,48 | 1,58 |
| 33 Bordeaux | 753 931 | 0,63 | 0,94 |
| 44 Nantes | 544 932 | 1,05 | 0,73 |
| (a) Toulon | 519 640 | 0,55 | 0,84 |
| (a) Douai-Lens | 518 727 | -0,19 | -0,17 |
| 67 Strasbourg* | 427 245 | 0,64 | 0,58 |
| 38 Grenoble | 419 334 | 0,38 | 0,29 |
| 76 Rouen | 389 862 | 0,16 | 0,05 |
| 59 Valenciennes* | 357 395 | -0,03 | -0,42 |
| 54 Nancy | 331 363 | 0,06 | 0,13 |
| (a) Metz | 322 526 | 0,26 | -0,02 |
| 37 Tours | 297 631 | 0,55 | 0,50 |
| (a) Saint-Étienne | 291 960 | -0,90 | -0,12 |
| 34 Montpellier | 287 981 | 1,28 | 1,18 |
| 35 Rennes | 272 263 | 0,97 | 0,59 |
| 45 Orléans | 263 292 | 0,89 | 1,23 |
| (a) Béthune | 259 198 | -0,10 | 0,08 |
| 63 Clermont-Ferrand | 258 541 | 0,18 | -0,09 |
| (a) Avignon | 253 580 | 0,64 | 0,58 |
| 76 Le Havre | 248 547 | -0,27 | -0,04 |
| 21 Dijon | 236 953 | 0,31 | 0,64 |
| 68 Mulhouse | 234 445 | 0,30 | 0,20 |
| 49 Angers | 226 843 | 0,77 | 0,70 |
| 51 Reims | 215 581 | 0,36 | 0,45 |
| 29 Brest | 210 055 | 0,30 | 0,08 |
| 14 Caen | 199 490 | 0,46 | 0,40 |
| 72 Le Mans | 194 825 | 0,14 | -0,07 |
| (a) Dunkerque | 191 173 | 0,02 | -0,19 |
| 64 Pau | 181 413 | 0,49 | 0,59 |
| (a) Bayonne | 178 965 | 0,67 | 0,87 |
| 87 Limoges | 173 299 | 0,21 | -0,12 |
| 971 Pointe-à-Pitre-Les Abymes | 171 773 | 1,21 | 1,84 |
| 66 Perpignan | 162 678 | 0,33 | 0,27 |
| 80 Amiens | 160 815 | 0,33 | 0,13 |
| 974 Saint-Denis | 158 139 | 1,19 | 1,48 |
| 30 Nîmes | 148 889 | 0,46 | 0,59 |
| 44 Saint-Nazaire | 136 886 | 0,45 | 0,12 |
| 74 Annecy | 136 815 | 0,85 | 1,19 |
| 972 Fort-de-France | 134 727 | -0,23 | 0,59 |
| 25 Besançon | 134 376 | 0,43 | 0,32 |
| 57 Thionville | 130 480 | -0,16 | -0,45 |
| 974 Saint-Pierre | 129 238 | 2,18 | 2,03 |
| 10 Troyes | 128 945 | 0,24 | -0,25 |
| 86 Poitiers | 119 371 | 1,16 | 0,33 |
| (a) Valence | 117 448 | 0,28 | 0,30 |
| 56 Lorient | 116 174 | 0,07 | 0,52 |
| 17 La Rochelle | 116 157 | 1,10 | -0,12 |
| 73 Chambéry | 113 457 | 0,87 | 0,82 |
| 25 Montbéliard | 113 059 | -0,43 | -1,08 |
| (a) Genève-Annemasse* | 106 673 | 0,86 | 1,97 |
| 62 Calais | 104 852 | 0,33 | 0,12 |
| 16 Angoulême | 103 746 | 0,09 | -0,24 |
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Comment
Between 1936 and 1999, France's urban population doubled from 22 million to 44 million, compared with a total population increase of only 40%. Today, three-quarters of the French population lives in urban units, which occupy 18.4% of the country's territory. Between 1990 and 1999, the urban population expanded by 2.3 million. Conversely, the rural population fell by 400,000. The highest population growth is on the rim of urban cores, in the periurban ring. This periurban space is home to 12.3 million people.
In 1999, France had 57 urban units of more than 100,000 inhabitants, down from 60 in 1990. With 9.6 million inhabitants, the Paris agglomeration consolidates its position as the largest in Europe. Marseille-Aix-en-Provence ranks second in France, just ahead of the Lyon agglomeration. Nearly all major urban units registered population growth between 1990 and 1999. For some units, the increase was due to the extension of their municipal boundaries.
For further information
- French national Institute of Demographic studies wbr> - "Communes d'hier, communes d'aujourd'hui. Les communes de la France métropolitaine, 1801-2001", "Classiques de l'économie et de la population" series.
- Insee, population census.
- Économie et statistique no. 336: "Measuring a growing urban world, ".