PAYS DE LA LOIRE - Population
With 3 220 000 in habitants, the region ranks fifth on the national scale. The region is crossed from east to west by the Loire Valley, where three of the four main urban centres are located: Angers, Nantes, Saint-Nazaire; Le Mans is the fourth. The shores of the Loire are also very attractive. The repartition of the population is fairly balanced. This goes hand in hand with the existence of a network of cities in a territory where inter-community has existed for a long time.
The Loire region?s population density of 100 inhabitants per km2 places the region as the eleventh most densely populated region of France and the eight most densely populated region of the metropolitan in 1999.
Between 1990 and 1999 the population grew by 165 000 inhabitants (0.58% per year on average). This increase is due for a third by the positive migration balance and for two thirds by a greater number of births over deaths. Over this period all the departments saw their population grow. Only two départements had a slightly negative migration balance but a positive natural balance outweighed this, and in all five departments the natural balance was positive.
The Loire region remains fairly youthful, with the proportion of less than 25 year olds being 1 percentage point higher than the national average, but it is also starting to age. The share of over 60s (21.8%) is slightly above the national level. The département Vendée located on the Atlantic attracts people in early retirement who come to enjoy the temperate climate away from the hubbub of city life. Vendée has the fewest young people and the greatest most elderly of all the department of the Loire region. 29.6% of its inhabitants are aged less than 25 years of age and those aged more than 60 account for a quarter of its inhabitants. The other department of the Loire region facing the Atlantic, the département Loire-Atlantique, is the most youthful. 32.9% of it inhabitants are under 25 years of age, and only 19.9% are more than 60 years old.
The region's fertility index, which was previously one of the highest in France, was at 185 children per 100 women in 1999, still four points higher than the national average. In 1999 the gross birth rate was fairly close to the national average: 12.6 per 1 000 inhabitants. Between 1990 and 1999 the number of live births grew from 39 900 to 40 800 in 1999, with the years 1993 and 1994 recording the lowest levels (37 200). In 2000 the number of births was 14 600 (+4.3% compared to 1999).
With 8.8 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants the rate for the Loire region is below the national average. The infant mortality rate (4.2 deaths of children under 1 year old per 1 000 live births) is below the national average.
In 1999 the Loire region had the second Iowest proportion of foreigners in its population, (after Brittany) with only 1.3% compared to the national average of 5.5%. The foreign population is mainly composed of nationals coming from countries outside the European Union (65.2%), notably Moroccans (16%) and Algerians (9.2%).
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