the essential
INSEE has just published the latest figures relating to population growth. Haute-Garonne is the national champion in demographic growth outside Mayotte, and Toulouse has probably overtaken Lyon to become 3rd city in France. Decryption.
There would now be more inhabitants in Toulouse than in Lyon. Why do we use a conditional? Because INSEE, the Institute of Statistics, which has just delivered its latest population study, publishes the figures as of January 1, 2022. And we are in a few days in 2025.
Haute-Garonne national champion of demographic growth
First observation, Haute-Garonne is the department of France excluding Mayotte where the population is growing the fastest: + 1.3% per year between 2016 and 2022 (1.45M inhabitants). More than 18,000 residents settle there each year.
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Toulouse is currently more populated than Lyon…
Toulouse, the engine of regional demographic growth with Montpellier, has recorded a continuous increase in its population of 1.2% per year since 2011. As of January 1, 2022, it was the 4th city in France with 511,684 inhabitants. Against 520,000 for Lyon. A quick calculation therefore suggests that as of today, at the end of 2024, the population of Toulouse has exceeded the capital of Gaul.
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In fact, Toulouse intramural gains a little more than 6,000 inhabitants while Lyon gains less than 1,000 inhabitants. The curves are therefore in the process of crossing, even if INSEE, cautiously, does not confirm this to date: “We obviously do not yet have the 2024-2025 figures, so we cannot confirm anything, but if the movements at work continued in 2023 and 2024, Toulouse should be ahead of Lyon” ventures the Institute of Statistics.
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…but the Lyon metropolitan area is more populated
At the scale of the agglomerations, the population of the urban unit of Toulouse, the 4th largest French agglomeration with 1.8 million inhabitants, is increasing by 1.4% per year, the largest increase among French agglomerations of more than 500,000 inhabitants. Lyon will remain the second largest city in France for some time to come. The metropolis of Toulouse had 832,000 inhabitants in 2022, the metropolis of Lyon is far ahead with 1.43M inhabitants.
Elsewhere in the department
Unsurprisingly, the further south you are in the department, the lower the population density. The municipality recording the strongest population decline is Luchon with 2,081 inhabitants (-1.8%) as of January 1, 2022. Colomiers remains the second most populous municipality in Haute-Garonne with almost 41,000 inhabitants and demographic growth at 0. 9%. Less than Blagnac and Tournefeuille which are performing at 2% growth, the two municipalities in western Toulouse having respectively 27,000 inhabitants and almost 30,000 inhabitants. The population of Muret is stagnating with 25,600 inhabitants.
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