The results of the census are classified into 7 themes:

• Evolution and structure of the population

• Couples - Families - Households

• Housing

• Diplomas - Education

• Labour force - Employment - Unemployment

• Employment characteristics

• Foreigners - Immigrants

The data disseminated uses:

• The French nomenclature of activities: NAF revision 2 adopted in 2008;

• The nomenclature of professions and socio-professional categories (PCS) adopted in 2020;

• The official geographical code (COG).

Jobs are mainly disseminated according to:

• The sector of activity of the NAF 2008 in 5, 17 or 38 items;

• The socio-professional category of the PCS 2020 in 6 or 29 items;

• Working hours, status (salaried or not), employment conditions (trainee, fixed-term contract, permanent contract, etc.).

The municipal population comprises people having their usual residence on the territory of the municipality. It includes homeless people or people usually residing in mobile homes registered in the territory of the municipality as well as inmates in the municipal penitentiary institutions. It is the statistical population comparable to the unduplicated population of previous general censuses.

The population counted separately includes some people whose usual residence is in another municipality but who maintain a residential link with the municipality. It includes, for example, pupils or students of full age who live for their studies in another municipality but whose family residence is located on the territory of the municipality or people residing in a retirement home located in another municipality but who have retained a family residence on the territory of the municipality. It is important to count such situations separately, firstly to clarify which commune is really the commune of residence but also to avoid double counting between two communes when their populations are added together.

Decree no. 2019-1302 of 5 December 2019 amending decree no. 485-2003 of 5 June 2003 on the population census removes from the scope of the population counted separately the homeless people attached, according to the law of 3 January 1969, to the commune. The reference populations from 1 January 2017 onwards take account of this change.

The total population is the sum of the municipal population and the population counted separately.

Employment : In the census, working people can be counted at their place of residence or at their place of work. At the place of residence, we speak of the active population with a job. At the place of work, we speak of employment at the place of work or, more briefly, employment.

Since 2004, the census has made it possible to take better account than before of working people who have a job, even if it is occasional or of short duration, and who are otherwise students, retired or unemployed.

A dwelling is a unit of residential accommodation :

• Separate, i.e. enclosed by walls , with no communication with any other unit except with the common parts of the building (corridor, staircase, etc.);

• Independent, i.e. having an entrance with direct access to the outside or to the common parts of the building.

Dwellings are divided into four categories: main residence, secondary residence, occasional residence, vacant dwelling.

Mobile homes and premises used for habitation within communities (retirement homes, hostels, religious communities, etc.) are not considered as dwellings. Dwellings located within a community (known as "staff dwelling") are considered as dwellings.

A household in the sense of a household dwelling is made up of all the people living in the same dwelling, which constitutes their usual residence, whatever the family ties between these people.

A household may consist of a single person.

A household may consist of zero, one, or more families.

A family in the sense of household-family analysis is made up of people in the same household who form a couple, with or without child(ren), or a single-parent family.

• A “traditional” family is a couple with child(ren) where all the children living in the home are children of the couple.
• A blended family is a couple with child(ren) where at least one child living in the home is not a child of the couple, but of only one of the spouses.
• A single-parent family is made up of a person living with one or more of their children, and not living as a couple with another member of the household.

A child, in the sense of the household-family analysis, is a person of any age living in the same household as at least one of their parents, and who is neither the parent of a child in the household nor in a couple with another person in the household.

Dwelling, the household, the family, the individual.

People residing in metropolitan France, in the overseas departments except Mayotte, and in the overseas collectivities of Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (Article 156 of the Local Democracy Act 2002-276 of 27 February 2002). .

The other overseas territories carry out full enumeration every five years by way of derogation (Article 157).

Mayotte joined the annual census surveys (ACS) in

2021, and should have been included in a joint survey with metropolitan France and the other French overseas departments from the 2023 census onwards (cumulative annual census surveys from 2021 to 2025).

However, cyclone Chido, which caused major

damage in the archipelago on December 14, 2024, forced INSEE to cancel the 2025 annual census survey in Mayotte. In 2026, it was decided to conduct (as in 2017) a exhaustive survey in all municipalities. This exceptional operation will enable the dissemination of population data and statistical results for Mayotte. This dissemination will be independent – and will have a different reference date – from that of the vintage RP, which will combine the ACS for 2022 to 2026.

not applicable

Year 2023

Not applicable

Due to the health situation, the collection of the 2021 was not collected, with the exception of the territory of Mayotte and the census of boatmen. This postponement is recorded in article 17 of the law No. 2021-689 on the management of the exit of the health crisis. Despite this postponement, INSEE produced the reference populations and the statistical results of the 2023 population census according to the usual schedule by adapting its calculation methods.

In 2025, the individual questionnaire underwent significant changes due to the transition to the new classification of occupations and socio-professional categories (PCS 2020), which is easier to code and allows for a reduction in the number of employment-related questions. INSEE therefore developed a new questionnaire in consultation with numerous institutional partners.

Because data collection is spread over five years, it is only starting with the 2028 census (based on the annual census surveys from 2025 to 2029) that the new procedures associated with the corresponding variables will be fully released.
From the 2023 census to the 2027 census, these variables will be based on two different versions of the question (those collected before 2025 and those collected in 2025 and thereafter). During this transitional period, to ensure continuity between the two versions of each corresponding question, the procedures will be consolidated.

Consequently, most of the questions regarding employment have been revised, leading to changes in the characteristics of jobs.

• The section on working hours was revised by splitting the “part-time” category to distinguish between work schedules of less than and more than 80%;

• The classification of contracts has been simplified and is now limited to three categories, distinguishing between permanent contracts and civil service positions on the one hand, and other contracts based on a duration of less than or more than three months on the other ;

• The question regarding primary employment status has been revised to distinguish between public sector employees and those in the private sector. Furthermore, the distinction between self-employed individuals and employers can no longer be made.

In addition, the new individual questionnaire will make it possible to identify individuals with dual citizenship:
◦ The question regarding the individual’s nationality or nationalities has been significantly revised. It makes it possible to identify individuals with dual citizenship—whether French/foreign or foreign/foreign—with the option, where applicable, to specify one or more foreign nationalities.
Conversely, the collection of birth nationality for individuals who have acquired French nationality has been discontinued since the 2025 EAR. Consequently, the various variables associated with birth nationality are no longer available since the 2023 RP.

Finally, the 2025 individual questionnaire now includes three new questions on:
• the place of birth of the individual’s parents,
• daily activity limitations due to health reasons (the “GALI” question),
• the practice and frequency of telework.

The variables related to these three questions will be incorporated into the 2028 Population Census, after all municipalities have been surveyed over a five-year period.