Created and used from 1996 by France's national INSEE statistical bureau to match international demographic standards, the aire urbaine is a statistical unit that describes the suburban development around centres of urban growth: it is composed of a couronne périurbaine surrounding a more densely built and densely populatedpôle urbain, which is a single or group of densely-built unité urbainecommunes. From 2011, the INSEE classified its largest aires urbaines into aires métropolitaines and grandes aires urbaines. From then, Paris became France's largest metropolitan area. In France, the 'Paris metropolitan area' term's use is limited to demographic and statistical studies, and, to date, it is not used in economic statistics, but in recent years the media has begun using it to describe the electoral tendencies of France's largest cities. In 2010 the government passed a law that invited France's largest city 'metropoles' to work together as an intercommunitary entities, but the lack of response by the following year moved the government to make the cooperation for many of France's largest cities obligatory, and Paris became a case study all on its own. This latter initiative created the "Métropole du Grand Paris", a Paris-centred intercommunal cooperation effort enacted from January 1, 2016. The territory it covers is much smaller than the INSEE 'Paris metropolitan area' statistical area: it includes Paris, its neighbouring three départements, and a few bordering communes in the departments beyond.
Extent
As of 2010, the INSEE statistical Paris metropolitan area, with its 17,174 km², extends significantly beyond Paris' administrative Île-de-Franceregion, a region also commonly referred to as the région parisienne.
Population
The area had a population of 12,405,426 as of the January 2013 census, making it the largest urban region in the European Union. Nearly 19% of France's population resides in the region. The Paris metropolitan area expands at each population census due to the rapidpopulation growth in the Paris area. New communes surrounding Paris are included when they meet the 40% commuter threshold required. At the 1968 census, the earliest date for which population figures were retrospectively computed for French aire urbaines, the Paris metropolitan area had 8,368,459 inhabitants in an area that only encompassed central Île-de-France. By the 1999 census the Paris metropolitan area was slightly larger than Île-de-France and had 11,174,743 inhabitants in 14,518 km². By the 2012 census it had reached 12,341,418 inhabitants in 17,174 km², an area significantly larger than Île-de-France.
Demographics
The table below shows the population growth of the Paris metropolitan area, i.e. the urban area and the commuter belt surrounding it. :
