Demographics: Lozère peaks at 76,503 inhabitants in 2022

La préfecture de la Lozère est celle qui connaît la plus forte croissance. Midi Libre – JUDY JANUARIUS

Last month, INSEE published the reference population data for municipalities in 2022. Unsurprisingly, Lozère is stagnating.

Between 1990 and 2011, the department experienced fairly significant population growth, rising from 72,825 to 77,156 inhabitants – a figure that had not been reached since 1968! A short-lived improvement: the population had fallen back to 76,422 in 2016.

The latest figures published by INSEE tend to show a certain stability. On January 1, 2022, the population of Lozère was 76,503 inhabitants. Between 2016 and 2022, the population of the department increased by an average of 0.2% per year. A change in trend, since it had decreased by 0.19% between 2011 and 2016.

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This increase is due to net migration, the natural balance (the difference between births and deaths) being -0.55%. In reality, the difference is negligible since this only represents fourteen additional inhabitants per year.

The strongest growth in Mende

Among the cities experiencing the strongest growth, Mende takes the prize with an average annual growth rate of 0.6% between 2016 and 2022. Over the same period, the population of Florac-Trois-Rivières also increased by 0.3%. It now stands at 2,111 inhabitants.

The municipalities of Bourgs-sur-Colagne, Saint-Chély-d’Acher, La Canourgue, Langogne and Peyre-en-Aubrac, on the other hand, lost some. The biggest decline is recorded by Bourgs-sur-Colagne, with a drop of 0.7% between 2016 and 2022.

The ranking of the most populated cities remains unchanged, however, with the prefecture of Lozère in the lead (12,322 inhabitants) followed by Marvejols (4,752), Saint-Chély-d’Apcher (4,025), Langogne (2,860) and Peyre-en-Aubrac (2,304).

Aubrac and Margeride are declining

The same trends are found at the level of the communities of communes, with that of Cœur de Lozère recording an increase of 0.6% of the number of inhabitants while those of Randon-Margeride, Hautes Terres de l’Aubrac, Gévaudan, Gorges Causses Cévennes and Terres d’Apcher Margeride Aubrac continue to see their populations decrease. The community of communes of Mont-Lozère manages to hold its own with an average annual growth of 1.1%. It had 5,827 inhabitants on January 1, 2022.

Observing the canton-by-canton data allows us to distinguish a divide between those in the southeast which are growing (+0.5 for Saint-Étienne-du-Valdonnez and +0.3 Le Collet-de-Dèze) and those in the northwest which are losing population. It was precisely the opposite a few years ago: in 2019, it was the north of the department that gained the most inhabitants.