Population. Toulouse is approaching the milestone of 500,000 inhabitants and is catching up with Lyon at full speed
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
498,003. This is the number of inhabitants that the city of Toulouseaccording to the latest figures from the Insee annual census, published on Thursday December 29, 2022, and relating to the legal population on 1uh January 2020. The capital of Occitania, which continues to grow, is now approaching the symbolic bar of the half a million inhabitants, which it should logically exceed in a year’s time, during the next census. Fourth largest municipality in France behind Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the Pink City is catching up with the capital of Gaul.
Toulouse is growing (much) faster than Lyon
The noose has tightened over the years between Toulouse and Lyon: there are only 24,225 inhabitants apart between the 3e and 4e cities of France. If its population boom slows down a bit, Toulouse won again 1.1% inhabitants between 2014 and 2020, when population growth peaked at 0.5% in Lyon over six years, and is now stagnating. Unless the situation turns around, Toulouse should become the 3e City of France a few years from now.
Among the 10 major French capitals, Nantes (+1.2%) and Montpellier (+1.4%), still much less populated, do a little better than Toulouse. Alone Paris loses inhabitants (-0.6%), when Good stagnant (0%).
Here are the top 10 cities in France and the evolution of their population (2014-2020):
- Paris: 2,145,906 (-0.6%)
- Marseilles: 870,321 (0.2%)
- Lyons: 522,228 (0.5%)
- Toulouse: 498,003 (1.1%)
- Nice: 343,477 (0%)
- Nantes: 320,732 (1.2%)
- Montpellier: 299,096 (1.4%)
- Strasbourg: 290,576 (0.9%)
- Bordeaux: 259,809 (0.9%)
- Lille: 236,234 (0.2%)
More than 1.4 million inhabitants in Haute-Garonne
Driven by the mushroom city of Toulouse, Haute-Garonne is, with 1,415,757 inhabitants at 1uh January 2020, the most populous department in Occitania, and now the 12e of France, between Seine-et-Marne and Val-de-Marne.
The other four most populated municipalities in the department – Colomier, Turnsheet, Blagnac and Wall- all belong to the agglomeration of Toulouse (what INSEE calls “the urban unit”). Said agglo exceeds the million inhabitants and is the 5e the most populated in France, after Paris, Lyon, Marseille-Aix en Provence and Lille (French part), which it should soon double as well. This is where most of the increase in population in the department is concentrated. The agglomeration of Saint-Gaudens, second in the department, has 16,101 inhabitants.
17,600 more inhabitants per year in the Toulouse area
With an average increase of + 1.3% per year, is around 17,600 people more each year, toulouse attraction area leaps even faster than the central city. On this figure, Toulouse is placed in 3e position of the highest increases at the national level, after that of Bordeaux and at the same level as that of Nantes. Another astonishing lesson: said attraction area has 1,470,899 inhabitants, while Haute-Garonne has 1,415,757! The explanation is simple: a good part of Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, or even Ariège, Gers and Aude, is turned towards Toulouse.
The department earns the equivalent of Balma every year!
In Haute-Garonne, the population is growing very rapidly between 2014 and 2020: with a growth of + 1.2% per year, the department comes in second place for the most attractive, tied with Hérault, Gironde and Loire-Atlantique, and behind Guyana. The natural and migratory surpluses are both significant (+0.5% and +0.7% per year).
Between 2014 and 2020, the department wins 16,348 inhabitants each year, that is almost the population of the municipality of Balma. With 12,929 additional inhabitants each year, i.e. 79% progress of the department, the agglomeration Toulouse greatly contributes to it. It combines largely positive natural and migratory balances (respectively + 0.7% and + 0.6% per year).
That said, in Haute-Garonne, the population is increasing at a slower pace between 2014 and 2020 than between 2009 and 2014 (it was + 1.4% per year), following the example of Occitanie and metropolitan France. Over both periods, the migratory surplus is slightly higher than the natural surplus.
Where is the population increasing (and decreasing)?
Demography is particularly dynamic west of Toulouse, to the Gers. She stays strong too. between Toulouse and Montaubanand in the South of Toulouse along the major axes (A61, A64 and A66). The population is more stable in the south-west of the department, around Saint-Gaudens. It declines to Cazeres and in the valley of Luchon.
The population is increasing in the main agglomerations of the department, particularly in those of Venerque and D’Auteritive, where the slightly positive natural balances are accompanied by strong migration surpluses. The agglomerations of Saint-Gaudens and of revel in have negative natural balances (-0.5% and -0.6% per year) but the population is nevertheless increasing in these two agglomerations thanks to more arrivals than departures.
Toulouse is deficient, The population is no longer progressing in Muret
In the agglomeration of Toulouse, the rate of population growth is estimated to be the same over the recent period (+1.3%) as over the previous period (+1.4%). Within this agglomeration, growth remains stable in the Pink City, rising from +1.2% to +1.1% per year between the two periods, thanks to the maintenance of a high natural surplus (+0.8% per year) and a constant attractiveness (+0.3% per year over the two periods). A Colomiers, low wall and Ramonville-Saint-Agnethe pace of growth is slowing down.
The population is no longer progressing low wall, after an increase of 1.3% between 2009 and 2014. Between 2014 and 2020, in this municipality, the migratory deficit (- 0.4%) erases the natural surplus (+ 0.2%). Demographic dynamics remain high at Castanet Tolosan and to Balma between 2014 and 2020, but it is less than that of the previous period. In contrast to Tournefeuille, Blagnac, Plaisance-du-Touchand particularly to Cugnaux, population growth is accelerating compared to the previous period. With 2.8% increase, the latter crossing the very symbolic cap of 20,000 inhabitants. Cugnaux has 20,100 souls, precisely.
In the European capital of aeronautics and space, demography has obviously not finished soaring.
Occitania carried by Haute-Garonne and Hérault
Regionally, Occitania now has 5,973,969 inhabitants. The region is in fifth position, behind Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, New Aquitaine and Hauts-de-France, close behind the latter two. From 2014 to 2020, the population of Occitanie has increased by an average of 0.7% per year, or around 40,500 additional inhabitants each year. The increase in population is sustained but less marked than over the period 2009-2014 (+0.9%). As in France, population growth has slowed due to the decline in fertility and the aging of the population. Demography is driven by the very strong increase in the region’s two driving forces: Haute-Garonne and Hérault (+1.2% for these two departments). In the Gard, the population continues to increase, but more slowly (+0.3%). In the 11 other departments of the region, INSEE announces an evolution between + 0.1 and + 0.6%. Everywhere, the migratory surplus compensates less and less for the negative or zero natural balances.
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