The observation is repeated, immutably, from year to year: Indre continues to depopulate. We are therefore reduced to trying to put this decline into perspective. If the department had 609 fewer inhabitants two years ago and even 1,479 inhabitants last year, this year it has lost “only” 419. Its population will therefore officially be established at 1is January 2025 to 216,809 inhabitants. An overall number which, however, hides certain particularities.
Châteauroux gains residents
Is this an effect of the Olympic Games? Or urban renewal operations that are starting to bear fruit? In any case, the observation is rare enough to be reported: Châteauroux gained 111 inhabitants, going from 42,968 in 2022 to 43,079 in 2023! Over the same period, in the top 10 municipalities of the department, only Le Poinçonnet also gained (+ 8 inhabitants), while all the others recorded slight erosions (- 39 for Issoudun, – 7 for Déols, – 16 for Le Blanc , – 31 for Argenton).
The least populated municipalities
With 51 inhabitants, Beaulieu remains the least populated commune in Indre for the third consecutive year. But, except for one resident, Saint-Médard takes the penultimate place in Selles-sur-Nahon (61 against 62)! Above this trio, La Motte-Feuilly, although having lost eight inhabitants this year (from 82 to 74), remains the one having experienced the strongest annual growth over the period 2016-2022 (6.4 points of increase). increase on average each year over this period).
The biggest developments
Mechanically, it is in the smallest municipalities of the department, where the arrival or loss of the smallest inhabitant weighs statistically more heavily, that we record the strongest average annual increases over the period 2016-2022. Behind the champion La Motte-Feuilly (6.4 points), we find Saint-Médard (4.8), Menetou-sur-Nahon (4), Perassay (2.4), Obterre (2.3) and Lignerolles (2). When, at the same time, Saint-Cyran-du-Jambot (-4.1 points), Champillet (-4), Bretagne (-3.9) or even Saint-Pierre-de-Jards (-3.5) record real bleeding.
However, Châtillon-sur-Indre, 14e commune of the department, also stands out, having lost 376 inhabitants between 2016 and 2022, going from 2,672 to 2,296 souls (i.e. -2.5 points).
The place of Indre in France and in the region
With its 216,809 inhabitants, Indre remains at 86e rank (out of 101) in the ranking of departments according to their population, between Haute-Loire and Nièvre. At the regional level, it is still, by far, the least populated of the six departments of Centre-Val de Loire, behind Cher (299,500). It represents only 8.4% of the regional population and lost, on average, 1,120 inhabitants every year over the period 2016-2022.
The choice of periods of population evolution
The annual census method is based on five-year collection cycles. For greater relevance, the data is therefore traditionally analyzed with an interval of five years. However, the evolution of the health situation has led to the annual census survey planned for 2021 being postponed until 2022. For all municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, there will henceforth (for five years) be an interval between two collections. census period of six years instead of the usual five.
To be robust, the developments measured over the last period (here 2016-2022) must therefore be analyzed over a period of six years. In the latest INSEE survey, the comparisons are thus based on a period of six years for the most recent (2016-2022) and a period of five years (2011-2016) for the oldest. The comparison of changes in the population, the apparent migratory balance and the natural balance over these periods of different durations nevertheless remains relevant, because all the data are presented as an annual average.
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