Toulouse - Population

Population

The population of the city proper (French: commune) was 440,204 at the 1 Jan 2009 census, with 1,218,166 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (French: aire urbaine) (within the 2009 borders of the metropolitan area), up from 964,797 at the March 1999 census (within the 1999 borders of the metropolitan area). Within its 2009 borders, the metropolitan area population has grown at the record rate of +1.87% per year between 1999 and 2009.

Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France, after Paris, Marseille and Lyon, and the fourth-largest metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille.

Fueled by booming aerospace and high-tech industries, population growth of 1.49% a year in the metropolitan area in the 1990s (compared with 0.37% for metropolitan France), and a record 1.87% a year in the 2000s (0.68% for metropolitan France), which is the highest population growth of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants, means the Toulouse metropolitan area has overtaken Lille as the fourth-largest metropolitan area of France in 2009.

A local Jewish group estimates there are about 2,500 Jewish families in Toulouse many of whom fled North Africa when Algeria stripped them of citizenship at independence and a series of anti-Semitic incidents drove most Jews from Morocco. A Muslim association has estimated there are some 35,000 Muslims in town.