Paris Metropolitan Area
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The Paris metropolitan area () is a statistical area that describes the reach of commuter movement to and from
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and its surrounding suburbs.


Overview

In 2020, France's national INSEE statistical bureau introduced the concept "aire d'attraction d'une ville" ( functional area), replacing the former "aire urbaine" (
urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
). A functional area consists of an urban cluster and the surrounding commuting zone. This concept is consistent with the functional urban area as defined by
Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...
. Created and used from 1996 by France's national INSEE statistical bureau to match international demographic standards, the ''aire urbaine'' (literally: 'urban area') was a statistical unit that described the suburban development around centres of urban growth. In 2011, the INSEE reclassified its largest ''aires urbaines'' into ''aires métropolitaines'' (literally: metropolitan areas) and ''grandes aires urbaines'' ('large urban areas'). With this change, the Paris metropolitan area became the largest in France. In France, use of the term 'Paris metropolitan area' is limited to demographic and statistical studies, and, to date, it is not used in economic statistics — the traditional administrative subdivisions ''commune'', ''département'', and ''région'' are still referenced for this — though the media will employ it when referring to the electoral tendencies of France's largest cities. In 2010 the government passed a law that invited France's largest city 'metropoles' to work together as an intercommunitary entities (more or less described by the INSEE concept), but the lack of response by the following year moved the government to make the cooperation for many of France's largest cities obligatory, and Paris became a case study all on its own. This latter initiative created the "
Métropole du Grand Paris A (; French for "metropolis") is an administrative entity in France, in which several communes in France, communes cooperate, and which has the right to Taxation in France, levy local tax, an ''établissement public de coopération intercommunal ...
" (official translation: 'Greater Paris metropolitan authority'), a Paris-centred intercommunal cooperation effort enacted from January 1, 2016. The territory it covers is much smaller than the INSEE 'Paris metropolitan area' statistical area: it includes Paris, its neighbouring three departments (or ' petite couronne'), and a few bordering communes in the departments beyond.


Extent

As of 2022, the INSEE statistical
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
metropolitan area covers 1,929 communes.Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Paris (001)
INSEE
With its , it extends significantly beyond Paris' administrative
ÃŽle-de-France The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
(). Outside the ÃŽle-de-France region, it covers part of the departments
Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...
,
Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),
,
Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Loiret, Marne,
Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...
,
Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Infà ...
and Yonne. The Paris metropolitan area expands at each population census due to the rapid population growth in the Paris area. New communes (municipalities) surrounding Paris are included when they meet the commuter threshold required. At the 1968 census, the earliest date for which population figures were retrospectively computed for French ''aire urbaines'', the Paris metropolitan area had 8,368,459 inhabitants in an area that only encompassed 279 communes in central ÃŽle-de-France. By the 1999 census the Paris metropolitan area was slightly larger than ÃŽle-de-France and had 11,174,743 inhabitants in 14,518 km2. At the 2010 revision, the ''aire urbaine'' of Paris had 1,750 communes.Aire urbaine 2010 de Paris (001)
INSEE


Population

The area had a population of 13,064,617 as of 2018. Nearly 20% of France's population resides in the region. The table below shows the population growth of the Paris
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
(''aire urbaine''), i.e. the urban area (''pôle urbain'') and the commuter belt (''couronne périurbaine'') surrounding it. (Note: the area shown in red and pink in the map above): * 1901 : * 1921 : * 1968 : * 1975 : * 1982 : * 1990 : (1,155 communes; 9,679 km²) * 1999 : (1,584 communes; 14,518 km²) * 2010 : Évolution et structure de la population en 2010: Aire urbaine 2010 de Paris (001)
INSEE
(1,751 communes; 17,194 km²) * 2018 : (1,929 communes; 18,941 km²)


See also

* Grand Paris * Functional areas of France *
ÃŽle-de-France The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...


References


External links


Document about the functioning of Paris Metropolitan Area

Document about the extension of Paris Metropolitan Area
{{coord missing, France Geography of France Geography of Paris Metropolitan areas of France INSEE concepts cs:Pařížská aglomerace vi:Vùng đô thị Paris