Last month, INSEE published the reference population data for municipalities in 2022. Unsurprisingly, Lozère is stagnating.
Between 1990 and 2011, the department experienced quite significant demographic growth, going from 72,825 to 77,156 inhabitants – a figure which had not been reached since 1968! A short-lived improvement: the population fell to 76,422 in 2016.
The latest figures published by INSEE tend to show a certain stability. At 1is January 2022, the population of Lozère was 76,503 inhabitants. Between 2016 and 2022, the population of the department increased by an average of 0.2% per year. A change in trend, since it decreased by 0.19% between 2011 and 2016.
This increase is due to net migration, the natural balance (the difference between births and deaths) being -0.55%. In fact, the difference is negligible since it only represents fourteen additional inhabitants per year.
The strongest growth in Mende
Among the cities experiencing the strongest growth, Mende takes the prize with an average annual growth rate of 0.6% between 2016 and 2022. Over the same period, the population of Florac-Trois-Rivières also increased by 0. 3%. It now stands at 2,111 inhabitants.
The municipalities of Bourgs-sur-Colagne, Saint-Chély-d'Acher, La Canourgue, Langogne and Peyre-en-Aubrac, on the other hand, have lost some. The strongest decline is recorded by Bourgs-sur-Colagne, with a drop of 0.7% between 2016 and 2022.
The ranking of the most populated towns, however, remains unchanged with the prefecture of Lozère at the top (12,322 inhabitants) followed by Marvejols (4,752), Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (4,025), Langogne (2,860) and Peyre -en-Aubrac (2,304).
Aubrac and Margeride decline
We find the same trends at the scale of the communities of communes, that of Cœur de Lozère recording an increase of 0.6% in the number of inhabitants while those of Randon-Margeride, Hautes Terres de l'Aubrac, Gévaudan, Gorges Causses Cévennes and Terres d’Apcher Margeride Aubrac continue to see their populations decrease. The community of communes of Mont-Lozère manages to do well with an average annual growth of 1.1%. It had 5,827 inhabitants on 1is January 2022.
Observing the data canton by canton makes it possible to distinguish a divide between those in the south-east who are growing (+ 0.5 for Saint-Étienne-du-Valdonnez and + 0.3 Le Collet-de-Dèze) and those in the north -west which are depopulating. It was precisely the opposite a few years ago: in 2019, it was the north of the department which gained the most inhabitants.
