According to INSEE studies, stopped on January 1, 2019, with 543,000 inhabitants, only the department of Doubs sees its population increase slightly in Franche-Comté. Besançon and Dole are recording an increase in the number of their residents, unlike Vesoul.
Besançon – intra muros – thus welcomed a thousand additional inhabitants within this 6-year interval. The Franche-Comté capital had nearly 118,000 inhabitants on January 1, 2019. Demographic growth also for Dole, with half a thousand more residents, or nearly 24,000 almost three years ago. Vesoul, on the other hand, therefore lost 400 during the same period.
At the bottom of the ladder, it’s mostly Saint Claude, with 8,900 inhabitants which shows one of the biggest drops, with 1,400 fewer residents between 2013 and 2019. Another confirmation of the INSEE census, localities close to the Swiss border, see their population continue to grow like the Val de Morteau or the Pontarlier region.