This statistic shows the ten largest cities in France as of 2022. In 2022, around 2.11 million people lived in Paris, making it the largest city in France.

Paris was in 2021 the most populated city in France with over ************inhabitants. Marseille was the second most important city in terms of inhabitants, and Lyon, the third. With ******* inhabitants, Lille was the tenth most populated city in France.

Population in largest city in France was reported at 11276701 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. France - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

France FR: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 20.512 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 20.490 % for 2016. France FR: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 21.394 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 25.582 % in 1960 and a record low of 20.472 % in 2014. France FR: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted Average;

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in France was reported at 20.06 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. France - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

By 1800, London had grown to be the largest city in Western Europe with just under one million inhabitants. Paris was now the second largest city, with over half a million people, and Naples was the third largest city with 450 thousand people. The only other cities with over two hundred thousand inhabitants at this time were Vienna, Amsterdam and Dublin. Another noticeable development is the inclusion of many more northern cities from a wider variety of countries. The dominance of cities from France and Mediterranean countries was no longer the case, and the dispersal of European populations in 1800 was much closer to how it is today, more than two centuries later.

France FR: Population in Largest City data was reported at 10,844,847.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 10,789,031.000 Person for 2016. France FR: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 9,226,364.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10,844,847.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 7,410,735.000 Person in 1960. France FR: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

In 2025, the Ile-de-France region, sometimes called the Paris region, was the most populous in France. It is located in the northern part of France, divided into eight departments and crossed by the Seine River. The region contains Paris, its large suburbs, and several rural areas. The total population in metropolitan France was estimated at around ** million inhabitants. In the DOM (Overseas Department), France had more than *** million citizens spread over the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, and the South American territory of French Guiana. Ile-de-France: the most populous region in France According to the source, more than ** million French citizens lived in the Ile-de-France region. Ile-de-France was followed by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Occitanie region which is in the Southern part of the country. Ile-de-France is not only the most populated region in France, it is also the French region with the highest population density. In 2020, there were ******* residents per square kilometer in Ile-de-France compared to ***** for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the second most populated region in France. More than two million people were living in the city of Paris in 2025. Thus, the metropolitan area outside the city of Paris, called the suburbs or banlieue in French, had more than ten million inhabitants. Ile-de-France concentrates the majority of the country’s economic and political activities. An urban population In 2024, the total population of France amounted to over 68 million. The population in the country has increased since the mid-2000s. As well as the other European countries, France is experiencing urbanization. In 2023, more than ** percent of the French population lived in cities. This phenomenon shapes France’s geography.

It is estimated that the largest cities in Western Europe in 1330 were Paris and Granada. At this time, Paris was the seat of power in northern France, while Granada had become the largest multicultural city in southern Spain, controlled by the Muslim, Nasrid Kingdom during Spain's Reconquista period. The next three largest cities were Venice, Genoa and Milan, all in northern Italy, renowned as important trading cities during the middle ages. In October 1347, the first wave of the Black Death had arrived in Sicily and then began spreading throughout Europe, decimating the population.

In 1500, the largest city was Paris, with an estimated 225 thousand inhabitants, almost double the population of the second-largest city, Naples. As in 1330, Venice and Milan remain the third and fourth largest cities in Western Europe, however Genoa's population almost halved from 1330 until 1500, as it was struck heavily by the bubonic plague in the mid-1300s. In lists prior to this, the largest cities were generally in Spain and Italy, however, as time progressed, the largest populations could be found more often in Italy and France. The year 1500 is around the beginning of what we now consider modern history, a time that saw the birth of many European empires and inter-continental globalization.

All cities with a population > 1000 or seats of adm div (ca 80.000)Sources and ContributionsSources : GeoNames is aggregating over hundred different data sources. Ambassadors : GeoNames Ambassadors help in many countries. Wiki : A wiki allows to view the data and quickly fix error and add missing places. Donations and Sponsoring : Costs for running GeoNames are covered by donations and sponsoring.Enrichment:add country name

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Paris, France metro area from 1950 to 2025.

In 2019, Rennes, the prefecture of the Bretagne region, was also the largest city in the region in terms of population. It was indeed home to ******* inhabitants that year. The second most populous city in Bretagne was Brest, with nearly ******* inhabitants, followed by Quimper (****** inhabitants), and Lorient (****** inhabitants). In 2022, *** million people where living in Bretagne.

Between 1500 and 1800, London grew to be the largest city in Western Europe, with its population growing almost 22 times larger in this period. London would eventually overtake Constantinople as Europe's largest in the 1700s, before becoming the largest city in the world (ahead of Beijing) in the early-1800s.

The most populous cities in this period were the capitals of European empires, with Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna growing to become the largest cities, alongside the likes of Lisbon and Madrid in Iberia, and Naples or Venice in Italy. Many of northwestern Europe's largest cities in 1500 would eventually be overtaken by others not shown here, such as the port cities of Hamburg, Marseilles or Rotterdam, or more industrial cities such as Berlin, Birmingham, and Munich.

Since 1968, the population density in the city of Marseille, located in the south of France, has fluctuated and generally decreased. Indeed, there were about 3,628 inhabitants per square kilometer in 2021, compared with 3,694.7 in 1968. The year in which the population density was highest was 1975, and the year in which it was lowest was 1999.Marseille is the second largest city in France in terms of population, following Paris.

As of January 2025, there were slightly more than two million people living in the city of Paris. Considered to be the heart of France’s economic and political life, Paris is also part of the most populous region in the country. The Ile-de-France region, which can also be called the Paris area, with almost 12.5 million inhabitants, around six times the number of citizens living in the French capital. Being a Parisian Paris is the largest city in France, and as in a very centralized country, it is where the majority of big companies and all the national administrations are located. Therefore, it attracts a lot of people coming from all across the country to work and study in the French capital. The city has a lot to offer and people from Paris can enjoy a variety of cultural events like nowhere else in France. But if worldwide, Paris is known for its architecture and museums, the city also has disadvantages for Parisians. Thus, they spend sometimes more than one hour on public transport, and air pollution has become a rampant issue in the City of Lights these past years. An exceptionally dense region Paris area is one of the most densely populated regions in Europe. In 2020, there were 1,021.6 residents per square kilometer in Ile-de-France. The region also welcomes millions of tourists every year, which has a direct impact on the housing market in a city that does not have a lot of available space.

Since 1968, the number of inhabitants of the city of Marseille, located in the south of France, has fluctuated and generally decreased. Indeed, there were about 16,000 fewer inhabitants in 2021 than in 1968. The year in which the population was highest was 1975, and the year in which it was lowest was 1999.Marseille is the second largest city in France in terms of population, following Paris.

Urban population growth has been constant for several decades in France. Between 1960 and 2022, it rose from 61.88 percent to 81.51 percent. The phenomenon of urbanization was more significant in the 1960s. Indeed, over this period, the rate of the French population living in cities increased by ten points. The evolution was more weighted over the next 50 years, rising from 71.06 percent in 1970 to 80.98 percent in 2020.An increase in urbanization was accompanied over the same period by a sharp rise in the overall French population, from 55.57 million inhabitants in 1982 to around 68 million in 2024. Paris, an urban giant in France Like in the United Kingdom, the French-style centralized system has led to a high concentration of population around economic, financial, cultural and political centers, all located in the British and French capitals. London and Paris (and its conurbation) are among the largest urban centers on the continent, with Moscow being the most populous. This centralization of power has led to a very heterogenous distribution of population density. The Paris region has a density of more than 1000 inhabitants per km², which is ten times higher than the Haut-de-France region, the second densest region in Metropolitan France.This centralization of power attracts a strong French and foreign workforce. The French capital is by far the most populated city in France. If solely the municipality of Paris is taken into account, it had more than two million inhabitants in 2019, which is more than twice as many as in Marseille and four times as many as in Lyon, the country's second and third most populous cities. Future challenges for French cities Access to employment is no longer the only reason to settle in a town. Other factors come into play in the life choices of city dwellers. In 2019, more than 90% of the French estimated that the presence of green areas was important to settle or not in a district. The pollution level of the city was also considered in the choice of the city. In order to address these pollution problems, municipalities must resolve transportation issues on their own territory. Previously the king of the town, the car is increasingly losing ground to public transport in urban areas. Cities like Paris are relying more on public transport. Between 2011 and 2016, RATP and SNCF have built more than 60 kilometers of tramway tracks . Moreover, the construction of additional train and metro lines in the Grand Paris project aimed at better connecting the suburbs to each other without passing through intramural Paris.Making it easier to travel by bicycle is one of the options chosen by many conurbations to relieve congestion in their cities. Since the early 2000s, self-service bicycles have been a great success in France with more than 2,400 bicycles available in Toulouse or 4,000 in Lyon in 2017. A source of much tension between motorists, municipalities and cyclists, the sharing of the road between 4 and 2 wheelers has, however, been widely developed. In Strasbourg, for example, the municipality had around 1.04 metres of cycle lanes per inhabitant in 2017, the highest rate in France. However, the layout of cycle paths can be perilous and a majority of cyclists in France still feel unsafe on the road.

The rate of live births in the City of Marseille, located in the South of France, has fluctuated and generally slightly increased in the last 50 years. Indeed, there were about 14.5 live births per 1,000 population between 1968 and 1975, compared to 12.5 between 1975 and 1982. Since then, the birth rate has almost continuously increased, reaching 14.7 in 2021.Marseille is the second largest city in France in terms of population, following Paris.

Data set from the "table poléométrique" made in 1782 by Charles de Fourcroy. It is a data set where 109 towns in France territory are described from a morphology point of view (urban areas). Data set is based on annex of the article published by François de Dainville in Population (Grandeur et population des villes au XVIIIe siècle, Population, 1958, 13(3), pp. 459-480).

This work takes place within a PhD in archaeology and geography - UMR 8504 Géographie-cités, Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne.