Toulouse will soon be the third most populous city in France, ahead of Lyon

At the end of 2022, there were 511,684 Toulouse residents, according to the latest demographic report published by INSEE. The pink city has gained around 5,000 inhabitants (+1.2) per year since 2016, reinforcing the very clear demographic progression of the Occitanie region which is the French region with the highest population growth over the period. With just over 6 million inhabitants, Occitanie is the fourth most populous region in the country.

This regional demographic growth is driven by the attractiveness of its two largest cities, Montpellier (+1.5% each year) and Toulouse, which is the prefecture of the region. The town of Haute-Garonne now has a population almost as large as that of Lyon: a total of just over 9,000 inhabitants now separates the demographics of the two towns. If Toulouse's population growth continues at the same pace, it will not take long for Toulouse residents to rank their city in 3rd demographic place in the country, behind Marseille (877,215 inhabitants) and of course Paris (where 2,113,705 people still live).

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However, it is not the higher birth rate that explains the demographic success of Occitan cities, but their attractiveness: each year in Toulouse and Montpellier, there are more people who settle there than people who leave the city.

Generally speaking, it is on the coasts (Atlantic and Mediterranean) as well as in Bordeaux and Nantes, in addition to Toulouse and Montpellier, that French cities are seeing their demographics increase the most.

The population, however, is stagnating in five regions: Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Normandy, Burgundy-Franche-Comté and Centre-Val de Loire.

As for overseas, the population is decreasing in Martinique and Guadeloupe but increasing in Guyana and Reunion.