It’s official, France had 66,36 million in 2016, according to the latest census carried out by Insee. A growth of 0.4% per year since 2011. A very important data for the State and the administration. Indeed, the census does not appear to be a simple tool for evaluating the growth and the latest demographic trends. Quite the contrary, the census is essential for formulating public policies, especially at the local level. “The census allows each mayor to have two pieces of information. The first information is to know the number of inhabitants of his town. The second piece of information is to know the family structure of its inhabitants. The first piece of information allows it to benefit from the State aid for its operating budget. The second allows him to reflect on the public facilities which it will need in the future”, explains in this sense, senator Claude Raynal, who is also president of the national Commission for the evaluation of the population census.
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in practical terms, that the population of the city is estimated to be 5,000 people or 15,000 is totally different to its operating budget. As explained by the Insee, the more the commune is populated, the greater the participation of the State to the municipality will be significant. “Allocations from the State to the districts are allocated according to the figures of the legal population. The census is therefore a major issue for the budget of municipalities”, stresses the institute. In the same way, a portion of the endowments for the departments is also distributed according to the population. The census will enable us to draw a portrait of the needs of a population. “If there are elderly people there will have to be retirement homes. If there are any families, it will be necessary to day nurseries, schools etc, That is why this information is so vital to each of the mayors of our country.”, accurate Claude Raynal.
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The census will also weigh on the housing policies, including those of HLM. Depending on the number of inhabitants of the municipality an obligation to build social housing can apply. For example, in cities of more than 3500 people (belonging to the inter-municipal associations of more than 50,000 people, including at least one commune of over 15,000 inhabitants) 25% of the units must be for social housing by 2025. In the same way, the population will have an influence on the number of openings, tobacconists or pharmacies. It must, indeed, have at least 2,500 residents to be able to open a dispensary. And it is possible to open other by slices of 4500 inhabitants.
If the census is used to these issues public, it is also useful for some private actors. Although anonymised, of the many data resulting from the census are available to all free of charge. In this sense, a contractor may rely on the census to judge the relevance of his project. It will be for example more interesting to open a shop to play in areas where the birth rate is high rather than in areas where the average age is already well advanced… In the same way, if a business wants to locate in a specific area it will draw on census data to assess the possibility of workforce residing in the area.
