the essential
Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil, the mayor, announced Monday evening in the municipal council, on January 1, the reference population of the city will be 50,605 inhabitants according to INSEE.
It’s historic. According to INSEE figures, the city’s reference population will be 50,605 inhabitants on January 1. It had never reached this threshold in its history.
It’s been around ten years since the city peaked at around 49,000 inhabitants, which provoked some comments. “You shouldn’t always trust small music. Figures are the only valid answer. It’s unstoppable.” underlines Mayor Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil, for whom this development reflects “an exceptional dynamic and attractiveness of the city”. “It’s a great recognition. We are starting to see the fruits of our work. The dynamics of a city are not created in a few months,” she comments. More than that of elected officials, the mayor wants to see in this “sweet melody the recognition of the work of all the Albigensians. Long-term partnership work”.
The increase in population is linked to net migration, the mortality rate (12.9%) being higher than that of the birth rate (8.7%). This figure therefore demonstrates the attractiveness of the city. Listed by UNESCO, close to Toulouse thanks to the motorway, Albi attracts for its quality of life: green spaces, density of sports facilities, significant cultural offering, presence of public services, access to care, commercial attractiveness, job market dynamic, security… “People find a living environment that suits them”, underlines the mayor, who does not forget to recall that “Albi is a central city within a coherent and dynamic Agglomeration”.
The latest real estate figures support this trend. Albi is the town in Tarn which is suffering the least from the crisis. Just like those in school demographics. If the number of staff is decreasing, it is less than in the rest of the department. Which shows, according to the mayor, that families are settling in the city.
In the coming years, this figure is expected to continue to increase. Visitors and residents alike can only see the good health of the building in the city. Housing is emerging everywhere. On Avenue Gambetta alone, several hundred have been or are being built. In the western districts, new housing developments are emerging. In the city center, 150 homes were renovated thanks to the city heart operation.
But don’t panic, Albi does not want to become a megalopolis. “The idea is to stay at the size that is ours,” assures Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil. With a permanent search for balance (such as between tourist and residential accommodation) and in coherence with the identity of the city. “For a city, it is important to develop, but we must maintain the quality of life,” she adds. This growth will therefore be “reasonable and conscious”.
46,162 inhabitants in 1975
In history, Albi has always evolved by period. At the start of the Third Republic, the prefecture town had only 17,469 inhabitants. It exceeded 25,000 before the First World War, reaching 34,000 at the end of the Second. In 1975 it had 46,162 inhabitants. From this date, the changes are less significant. But still growing, until it exceeded 50,000 inhabitants 50 years later.
At the municipal organizational level, exceeding 50,000 has consequences. In the next elections, the municipal council will increase from 43 members to 45. And the compensation of elected officials may be increased.
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