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Toulouse is the fastest growing metropolitan area in Europe:

• population of the urban area: 761 090 (1999) | 871 800 (2007)
• population of the metro: 964 797 (1999) | 1 117 000 (2007)

Demographics

The population of the city proper was 390,350 (as of the 1999 census), with 964,797 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (as of 1999 census). As of 1 January 2005 estimate, the population of the city proper reached 435,000 inhabitants, which means a record 1.9% population growth per year between 1999 and 2005 for the city proper.

Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France, after Paris, Marseille and Lyon. In 1999 Toulouse was the fifth largest metropolitan area in France, after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille.

Fueled by booming aerospace and high-tech industries, population growth of 1.5% a year in the metropolitan area in the 1990s (compared with a sluggish 0.37% for metropolitan France), and a record 2.2% yearly growth in the 2000s (0.58% for metropolitan France), means Toulouse metropolitan area hit the 1,000,000 inhabitants mark in 2002 or 2003. Boasting the highest population growth of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants, Toulouse has already grown past Lille to become the fourth largest metropolitan area and is on its way to overtake Lyon as the third largest city of France. With 2.2% yearly population growth in the metropolitan area, Toulouse is also the fastest growing metropolitan area larger than one million inhabitants in Europe.

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