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A note on classification:
By any system of measurement, Paris is the biggest city in France. That
much is clear; but after that, classifying French towns and cities in
order of size is an art, rather than a science, since the results
depend very much on the criteria used. Different French statistical
data use different yardsticks, and "cities" can be classed in
several different ways, notably by "urban area" (aire urbaine) , by "urban zone" (zone urbaine), or by borough (commune). These terms are defined as follows: "Urban area" - A metropolitan area, i.e. the whole area which can be viewed as a coherent economic/employment unit. "Urban zone" - The "conurbation", the densely populated heart of that area, or "agglomération". "Commune" - A borough, the basic unit of local administration in France, with its municipal council.
To make a comparison with London, "Greater London" would be an urban
area, the "London postal area" would be an urban zone, and the "City of
London" would be a commune. |
| Table 1 :
Main French cities classed by population of metropolitan areaAll rankings refer to cities in Metropolitan France (i.e. France-in-Europe, excluding overseas departments and territories). The 40 biggest cities in France, ranked by metropolitan area (Population figures from 1999). Regional capital cities are indicated in bold.
Column D shows the population of the "urban zone" at the heart of each
area, i.e. the city and its contiguous suburbs. If classed by the
population of their urban zones, the order of the "biggest cities" in
France is slightly different.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | | Rank | City | Population Metropolitan area or urban area | Population by urban zone or conurbation | Region | Departments | | 1 | Paris* | 11174743 !11,174,743 | 9,644,507 | Ile de France | 75,77,78,91,92,93,94,95 | | 2 | Lyon* | 1,648,216 | 1,349,772 | Rhône- Alpes | 69 - Rhône | | 3 | Marseille* – Aix-en-Provence | 1,516,340 | 1,348,832 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 13 - Bouches du Rhône | | 4 | Lille– Roubaix–Tourcoing | 1,143,125 | 1,000,900 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 59 - Nord | | 5 | Toulouse | 964,797 | 761,090 | Midi-Pyrénées | 31 - Garonne | | 6 | Nice | 933,080 | 888,784 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 06 - Alpes Maritimes | | 7 | Bordeaux | 925,253 | 753,931 | Aquitaine | 33 - Gironde | | 8 | Nantes | 804,833 | 544,932 | Pays de la Loire | 44 - Loire Atlantique | | 9 | Strasbourg | 612,104 | 427,245 | Alsace | 67 - Bas Rhin | | 10 | Toulon | 564,823 | 519,640 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 83 - Var | | 11 | Douai–Lens | 552,694 | 518,727 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 59 Nord & 62 Pas de Calais- | | 12 | Rennes | 520,772 | 272,263 | Brittany | 35 - Ille et Vilaine | | 13 | Rouen | 518,316 | 389,862 | Normandy | 76 - Seine Maritime | | 14 | Grenoble | 514,559 | 419,334 | Rhône -Alpes | 38 - Isère | | 15 | Montpellier | 459,916 | 287,981 | Languedoc-Roussillon | 34 - Hérault | | 16 | Metz | 429,588 | 322,526 | Lorraine | 57 - Moselle | | 17 | Nancy | 410,508 | 331,363 | Lorraine | 54- Meurthe et Moselle | | 18 | Clermont-Ferrand | 409,558 | 258,541 | Auvergne | 63- Puy de Dôme | | 19 | Valenciennes | 399,677 | 357,395 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 59- Nord | | 20 | Tours | 376,374 | 297,631 | Centre | 37- Inder & Loire | | 21 | Caen | 370,652 | 199,490 | Normandy | 14 - Calvados | | 22 | Orléans | 355,811 | 263,292 | Centre | 45- Loiret | | 23 | Angers | 332,624 | 226,843 | Pays de la Loire | 49 - Maine et Loire | | 24 | Dijon | 326,631 | 236,953 | Burgundy | 21 - Côte d'Or | | 25 | Saint Etienne | 321,703 | 291,960 | Rhône-Alpes | 42 - Loire | | 26 | Brest | 303,484 | 210,055 | Brittany | 29 - Finistère | | 27 | Le Havre | 296,773 | 248,547 | Normandy | 76 - Seine Maritime | | 28 | Le Mans | 293,159 | 194,825 | Pays de la Loire | 72 - Sarthe | | 29 | Reims | 291,735 | 215,581 | Champagne-Ardenne | 51 - Marne | | 30 | Avignon | 290,466 | 253,580 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 84 - Vaucluse | | 31 | Mulhouse | 271,024 | 234,445 | Alsace | 68 - Bas Rhin | | 32 | Amiens | 270,867 | 160,815 | Picardy | 80 - Somme | | 33 | Béthune | 266,590 | 259,198 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 62 - Pas de Calais | | 34 | Dunkerque | 265,974 | 191,173 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 59 - Nord | | 35 | Perpignan | 249,016 | 162,678 | Languedoc-Roussillon | 66 - Pyrénées Orientales | | 36 | Limoges | 247,944 | 173,299 | Limousin | 87 - Haute Vienne | | 37 | Besançon | 222,381 | 134,376 | Franche-Comté | 25 - Doubs | | 38 | Nîmes | 221,455 | 148,889 | Languedoc-Roussillon | 30 - Gard | | 39 | Pau | 214,820 | 181,413 | Aquitaine | 64 Pyrénées Atlantiques | | 40 | Bayonne | 213,969 | 178,965 | Aquitaine | 64 Pyrénées Atlantiques |
* Note:
Most of the larger metropolitan areas, particularly those with
over 500,000 inhabitants, contain more than one town
(commune) with over 80,000 inhabitants. The Paris urban area, for
instance, contains a number of large communes. Villeurbanne, a suburb
of Lyon, is included in the Lyon metro area and urban zone, even though
the commune ranks 27th in its own right when French "communes" are
ranked by population.
Table 2 Other towns/cities in metropolitan France with an urban zone (conurbation) of over 100,000 inhabitants, ranked by population or urban zone.
Table 3 Other towns in metropolitan France with a commune (borough) of over 50,000 inhabitants. This table only lists those boroughs of over 50,000 inhabitants that are not already included in a metropolitan area or an urban zone listed in the two tables above.
Hence the gaps in the ranking, which are taken by large communes that
are essentially suburbs, and as such already included (though not
mentioned by name) in the urban areas or urban zones listed in
tables 1 and 2. The classification by "commune" is only meaningful for
country towns where a single commune accounts for the bulk of the
"town". For larger urban zones, the commune population figures can be
very misleading. The fact that "Paris intra muros" has 2.12 million
inhabitants is of little relevance, hardly more than the fact that the
population of the "City of London" in 2009 is a little over 8,000
inhabitants.
| Rank | City or town | Population 2006 (commune)
| Region | Department(s) |
|---|
| 58 | Antibes | 75,820 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | Alpes-Maritimes | | 60 | Calais | 74,888 | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | Pas-de-Calais | | 64 | Béziers | 72,245 | Languedoc-Roussillon | Hérault | | 65 | Bourges | 70,828 | Centre | Cher | | 66 | Cannes | 70 610
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | Alpes-Maritimes | | 71 | Colmar | 65 713 | Alsace | Haut-Rhin | | 73 | Valence | 65 263 | Rhône-Alpes | Drôme | | 74 | Quimper | 64 902 | Brittany | Finistère | | 75 | Ajaccio | 63 723 | Corsica | Corse-du-Sud | | 86 | Niort | 58 066 | Poitou-Charentes | Deux-Sèvres | | 93 | St Quentin | 56 792 | Picardy | Aisne | | 96 | Beauvais | 55 481 | Picardy | Oise | | 98 | Cholet | 54 632 | Pays de la Loire | Maine-et-Loire | | 99 | Montauban | 53 941 | Midi-Pyrénées | Tarn-et-Garonne | | 103 | Vannes | 53,079 | Brittany | Morbihan | | 105 | Charleville-Mézières | 51,997 | Champagne-Ardenne | Ardennes | | 106 | Arles | 51,970 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | Bouches du Rhône | | 112 | Evreux | 51,239 | Upper Normandy | Eure | | 113 | Laval | 51,233 | Pays de la Loire | Mayenne | | 116 | Annecy | 51,023 | Rhône-Alpes | Haute Savoie | | 117 | Belfort | 50,417 | Franche-Comté | Territoire de Belfort | | 118 | Narbonne | 46,510 | Languedoc-Roussillon | Aude | | 119 | La Roche sur Yon | 50,717 | Pays de la Loire | Vendée | | 122 | Brive la Gaillarde | 50,009 | Limousin | Corrèze |
Population data from the French National Statistical Office, the INSEE.
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