Mapping French Population Density

France's most populated city is Paris. With a population of over two million it has nearly three times the population of the next largest city of Marseilles. France's third most populated city is Lyon. You can explore the population of every commune in France for yourself on the Communes Population interactive map.

Communes Population uses scaled circles to visualize the population size of every French town and city. If you zoom in on the map you can also view the population density of France. This population density choropleth layer allows you to see which communes are the most and least populated in every town. If you click on a commune on the map you can also view a breakdown of the population by age group, showing both the population of each age group and the percentage that each age group contributes to the total population of the commune.



You can probably get a better idea of the population density of French towns and cities using the Population Données Carroyées interactive map. This map visualizes the population density of France using 3D towers.

On the map the height and color of each square relates to the number of inhabitants living in that 200 x 200 meter square. If you hover over a square you can view a breakdown of the local population by age. It would be useful if the map also provided an option to change the color of the 3D towers to visualize the population density of different age-groups. The map could then be used not only to view the overall population density but the population density of different age-groups within individual towns and cities in France.