Dordogne: See which communes have grown in population - and those that have fallen
A new report shows some villages have seen their numbers increase by between 20-30% in six years
Sarlat-la-Canéda was one of the communes to see a fall in resident numbers
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The population of Dordogne has slightly increased in the past eight years, a new report has found, with the commune of Fleurac having grown the most, and Orliac having reduced the most.
A new report by national statistics bureau INSEE, published on December 19, showed that as of January 1, 2022, there were 416,325 people living in the department, a slight rise of 0.37% since 2016.
In real terms there were 2,595 more people living in Dordogne by 2022 than there were in 2021. This rise marks a departure from the previous trend, in which the population had been dropping since 2015.
The increased numbers come from people moving into the department, INSEE said, with a positive net migration. The death rate is higher than the birth rate among those already living in the department.
A report from 2020 found that, after Paris, Dordogne is still the area of France with the most Britons as residents.
Read also: Dordogne still area of France after Paris with most Britons
Communes that grew in size
The most recent INSEE report found that the communes gaining the most inhabitants are:
Fleurac (in the Périgord Noir region): Up 30% in six years, from 246 to 320 between 2016 and 2022
Clermont-de-Beauregard: Up 25%
Lavalade: Up 25%
Saint-Léon-d'Issigeac, and Saint-Pierre-de-Frugie: Up 23%
Nastringues, and Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes: 22%
Communes that reduced in size
The communes losing the most inhabitants were:
Similarly, the four prefecture and sub-prefecture communes saw a drop in residents.
Périgueux: Drop of 0.12%, with 29,876 inhabitants in 2022, compared to 29,912 in 2016
Bergerac: 1.5% drop from 27,269 to 26,852
Sarlat-la-Canéda: Drop of 1.7%, from 8,946 to 8,786
Nontron: Drop of 1.1%, from 3,085 to 3,049.
Age ranges
Older people make up the majority of inhabitants in Dordogne.
The report shows that those aged 60 to 74 represent the greatest proportion of people in the department, making up 23.6% of the population (with 97,691 people of this age in 2021). After this, the second-most common age group is 45-59 (86,010 people).
The least common age group is people aged 15 to 29, at just 12.5%, with 51,834 people in 2021.
Similarly, the largest percentage are retired, with 37.4% retired in the department.
Families
Most of the households in the department are couples with children, the figures show, with 144,934 households coming under this banner.
43,365 women live alone, compared to 32,700 men.
The largest percentage of people (44.7%) are married, 4.8% are PACSed, 12% live in a couple, 9% are widowed, 7.4% are divorced, and 22.1% are single.
