Lhe figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) follow one another and are similar. The latest, published at the end of December 2024 and covering the period 2016-2022 (1), confirm the attractiveness of New Aquitaine in general and Gironde in particular. The department concentrates a quarter of the regional population and is ranked sixth nationally. At 1is January 2022 there were 1.67 million Girondins, compared to 1.65 million on the same date in 2021. Details.
1 A young department
With a growth rate of +1.1% per year, Gironde is the department whose population is growing the most in New Aquitaine. But what characterizes it is that it is the only one in the region where this growth is not only due to the arrival of new inhabitants (+ 0.9% per year, nonetheless), but also to the difference between births and deaths: + 0.2%.
Gironde, “young” department? “In 2021, 30% of the population was under 25 years old, thanks in particular to the number of students, and the population over 65 years old was the lowest in the region: 20% compared to 24% in the entire region. Nouvelle-Aquitaine,” agrees Delphine Artaud, head of the Studies and Dissemination department at INSEE. Another notable fact: in the outskirts of large cities, two thirds of new arrivals are couples, “many of whom are likely to have children there”.
2 The rush to the west
23.6% more inhabitants in Mios between 2016 and 2022, 20.9% in Marcheprime, 24.8% in Audenge: it is clearly the municipalities in the west of the department which are seeing their populations increase the most. Conversely, those to the east often display negative rates: -17.1% in Saint-Christophe-de-Double, -17.7% in Pellegrue, etc.
“We observe in Gironde what we observe in the rest of the region, analyzes Delphine Artaud: The population is increasing along the coast and it is stable elsewhere, except in the Creuse where it is decreasing. » Two notable exceptions: Lège-Cap-Ferret (-3%) and Arcachon (-2%) have lost inhabitants in six years. “But these municipalities have a very high number of second homes, which distorts the statistics. And their land does not allow new construction. The new arrivals retreated to Le Teich, Gujan-Mestras and La Teste-de-Buch. »
3 The Bordeaux metropolis, the main hub
Bordeaux (265,328 inhabitants), Mérignac (77,136), Pessac (66,874), Talence (45,869), Villenave-d'Ornon (42,185): the five most populated municipalities are located in the Bordeaux conurbation, with annual growth rates which range from + 0.9% (Bordeaux) to + 4.3% for Villenave-d'Ornon, highest rate in Gironde.
Delphine Artaud: “In 2021, 30% of the Gironde population was under 25 years old and the population over 65 years old was the lowest in the region”.
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Unsurprisingly, we record the same attractiveness at the canton level: 66,448 inhabitants in Villenave-d'Ornon (+ 3.6% per year), 66,340 in Bordeaux 4 (Chartrons, Bacalan, Lac, Bordeaux-Nord) , with 2.6% more inhabitants each year. At the start of 2022, nearly a million people (980,532) lived in the Bordeaux “living area”.
Here again, this growth first benefits the west of the agglomeration, boosted by its opening onto the ocean, by the presence of important economic centers in Mérignac and Pessac, but also by land which has long been relatively abundant. and inexpensive. On the other hand, the cantons of Bordeaux-center (1 and 2) showed negative growth (-0.2% and -0.1%). “The construction is established. Especially since we are within the Unesco perimeter. We can no longer build to accommodate new residents. It is in the other cantons that the demographic growth is observed. Bordeaux is today the ninth most populous commune in France. »
9 cities in the top 15
843,738 people live in the 28 municipalities of Bordeaux Métropole, an increase of 7.7% in six years. Of the fifteen largest cities in Gironde, eleven are located in the Metropolis. Better still, of the nine Gironde towns which monopolize the top 15 of the largest towns in the region, eight are in Bordeaux Métropole.
4 Small communities booming
The same growth is observed in more distant municipalities. Saint-Selve saw its population increase by 28% between 2016 and 2022; Parempuyre, 23.1%; Cubnezais, by 28.8%. “Many people choose to live outside Bordeaux to benefit from more spacious and less expensive housing, but while maintaining access to employment and the services offered by urban areas. » And in what INSEE calls “autonomous rural”, more disconnected from these areas, we see many single people over 55 and childless couples over 60 arriving. “People who settle there at the start of their retirement, undoubtedly to find more peace and quiet. The rural always attracts. »
(1) These official figures for the legal and municipal population for the year 2025 come from different annual census collections, resulting in a three-year lag.
