The City of Paris is the centre of theÎle-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or about 19% of the population of France.[3] The Paris Region had a nominalGDP of €765 billion (US$1.064 trillion when adjusted forPPP)[7] in 2021, the highest in the European Union.[8] According to theEconomist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, in 2022, Paris was the city with the ninth-highest cost of living in the world.[9]
SeeWiktionary for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French.
The ancientoppidum that corresponds to the modern city of Paris was first mentioned in the mid-1st century BC byJulius Caesar asLuteciam Parisiorum ('Lutetia of theParisii') and is later attested asParision in the 5th century AD, then asParis in 1265.[18][19] During the Roman period, it was commonly known asLutetia orLutecia in Latin, and asLeukotekía in Greek, which is interpreted as either stemming from theCeltic root*lukot- ('mouse'), or from *luto- ('marsh, swamp').[20][21][19]
The nameParis is derived from its early inhabitants, theParisii, aGallic tribe from theIron Age and theRoman period.[22] The meaning of the Gaulishethnonym remains debated. According toXavier Delamarre, it may derive from the Celtic rootpario- ('cauldron').[22]Alfred Holder interpreted the name as 'the makers' or 'the commanders', by comparing it to theWelshperyff ('lord, commander'), both possibly descending from aProto-Celtic form reconstructed as *kwar-is-io-.[23] Alternatively,Pierre-Yves Lambert proposed to translateParisii as the 'spear people', by connecting the first element to theOld Irishcarr ('spear'), derived from an earlier *kwar-sā.[19] In any case, the city's name is not related to theParis ofGreek mythology.
Residents of the city are known in English as Parisians and in French asParisiens ([paʁizjɛ̃]ⓘ). They are also pejoratively calledParigots ([paʁiɡo]ⓘ).[note 1][24]
TheParisii, a sub-tribe of theCelticSenones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC.[25][26] One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed theSeine on theÎle de la Cité, which gradually became an important trading centre.[27] The Parisii traded with many river towns (some as far away as the Iberian Peninsula) and minted their own coins.[28]
TheRomans conquered theParis Basin in 52 BC and began their settlement on Paris'sLeft Bank.[29] The Roman town was originally calledLutetia (more fully,Lutetia Parisiorum, "Lutetia of the Parisii", modern FrenchLutèce). It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and anamphitheatre.[30]
By the end of theWestern Roman Empire, the town was known asParisius, aLatin name that would later becomeParis in French.[31]Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by SaintDenis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known asMons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, theBasilica of Saint-Denis, and many French kings are buried there.[32]
Clovis the Frank, the first king of theMerovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508.[33] As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by theFranks to Paris and the ParisianFrancien dialects were born. Fortification of theÎle de la Cité failed to avertsacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris's strategic importance—with its bridges preventing ships from passing—was established by successful defence in theSiege of Paris (885–886), for which the thenCount of Paris (comte de Paris),Odo of France, was elected king ofWest Francia.[34] From theCapetian dynasty that began with the 987 election ofHugh Capet, Count of Paris andDuke of the Franks (duc des Francs), as king of a unified West Francia, Paris gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France.[32]
By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France.[35] ThePalais de la Cité, the royal residence, was located at the western end of the Île de la Cité. In 1163, during the reign ofLouis VII,Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, undertook the construction of theNotre Dame Cathedral at its eastern extremity.
After the marshland between the river Seine and its slower 'dead arm' to its north was filled in from around the 10th century,[36] Paris's cultural centre began to move to the Right Bank. In 1137, a new city marketplace (today'sLes Halles) replaced the two smaller ones on theÎle de la Cité andPlace de Grève (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville).[37] The latter location housed the headquarters of Paris's river trade corporation, an organisation that later became, unofficially (although formally in later years), Paris's first municipal government.
In the late 12th century,Philip Augustus extended theLouvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between 1190 and 1215, rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares.[38] In 1190, he transformed Paris's former cathedral school into a student-teacher corporation that would become theUniversity of Paris and would draw students from all of Europe.[39][35]
With 200,000 inhabitants in 1328, Paris, then already the capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe. By comparison, London in 1300 had 80,000 inhabitants.[40] By the early fourteenth century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired bymerde, the French word for "shit".[41]
During theHundred Years' War, Paris was occupied by England-friendlyBurgundian forces from 1418, before being occupied outright by the English whenHenry V of England entered the French capital in 1420;[42] in spite of a 1429 effort byJoan of Arc to liberate the city,[43] it would remain under English occupation until 1436.
In the late 16th-centuryFrench Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of theCatholic League, the organisers of 24 August 1572St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in which thousands of French Protestants were killed.[44][45] The conflicts ended when pretender to the throneHenry IV, after converting to Catholicism to gain entry to the capital, entered the city in 1594 to claim the crown of France. This king made several improvements to the capital during his reign: he completed the construction of Paris's first uncovered, sidewalk-lined bridge, thePont Neuf, built a Louvre extension connecting it to theTuileries Palace, and created the first Paris residential square, the Place Royale, nowPlace des Vosges. In spite of Henry IV's efforts to improve city circulation, the narrowness of Paris's streets was a contributing factor in his assassination nearLes Halles marketplace in 1610.[46]
During the 17th century,Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister ofLouis XIII, was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for theCollege of Sorbonne, and a palace for himself, thePalais-Cardinal. After Richelieu's death in 1642, it was renamed thePalais-Royal.[47]
Lutetia Parisiorum vulgo Paris, Plan de Paris en 1657,Jan Janssonius
Paris grew in population from about 400,000 in 1640 to 650,000 in 1780.[50] A new boulevard named theChamps-Élysées extended the city west toÉtoile,[51] while the working-class neighbourhood of theFaubourg Saint-Antoine on the eastern side of the city grew increasingly crowded with poor migrant workers from other regions of France.[52]
Paris was the centre of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity, known as theAge of Enlightenment.Diderot andD'Alembert published theirEncyclopédie in 1751, before theMontgolfier Brothers launched the first manned flight in ahot air balloon on 21 November 1783. Paris was the financial capital of continental Europe, as well the primary European centre for book publishing, fashion and the manufacture of fine furniture and luxury goods.[53] On 22 October 1797, Paris was also the site of the first parachute jump in history, byGarnerin.
In the summer of 1789, Paris became the centre stage of theFrench Revolution. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at theInvalides, acquiring thousands of guns, with which itstormed the Bastille, a principal symbol of royal authority. The first independentParis Commune, or city council, met in theHôtel de Ville and elected aMayor, the astronomerJean Sylvain Bailly, on 15 July.[54]
Louis XVI and the royal family werebrought to Paris and incarcerated in the Tuileries Palace. In 1793, as the revolution turned increasingly radical, the king, queen and mayor were beheaded byguillotine in theReign of Terror, along with more than 16,000 others throughout France.[55] The property of the aristocracy and the church wasnationalised, and the city's churches were closed, sold or demolished.[56] A succession of revolutionary factions ruled Paris until9 November 1799 (coup d'état du 18 brumaire), whenNapoleon Bonaparte seized power as First Consul.[57]
The population of Paris had dropped by 100,000 during the Revolution, but after 1799 it surged with 160,000 new residents, reaching 660,000 by 1815.[58] Napoleon replaced the elected government of Paris with a prefect that reported directly to him. He began erecting monuments to military glory, including theArc de Triomphe, and improved the neglected infrastructure of the city with new fountains, theCanal de l'Ourcq,Père Lachaise Cemetery and the city's first metal bridge, thePont des Arts.[58]
TheEiffel Tower, under construction in November 1888, startled Parisians—and the world—with its modernity.
During theRestoration, the bridges and squares of Paris were returned to their pre-Revolution names; theJuly Revolution in 1830 (commemorated by theJuly Column on thePlace de la Bastille) brought to power a constitutional monarch,Louis Philippe I. The first railway line to Paris opened in 1837, beginning a new period of massive migration from theprovinces to the city.[58] In 1848, Louis-Philippe was overthrown by apopular uprising in the streets of Paris. His successor,Napoleon III, alongside the newly appointed prefect of the Seine,Georges-Eugène Haussmann, launched a huge public works project to build wide new boulevards, a new opera house, a central market, new aqueducts, sewers and parks, including theBois de Boulogne andBois de Vincennes.[59] In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the surrounding towns and created eight new arrondissements, expanding Paris to its current limits.[59]
During theFranco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Paris was besieged by thePrussian Army. Following several months of blockade, hunger, and then bombardment by the Prussians, the city was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. After seizing power in Paris on 28 March, a revolutionary government known as theParis Commune held power for two months, before being harshly suppressed by the French army during the "Bloody Week" at the end of May 1871.[60]
GeneralCharles de Gaulle on the Champs-Élysées celebrating the liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944
On 14 June 1940, the German army marched into Paris, which had been declared an "open city".[71] On 16–17 July 1942, following German orders, the French police and gendarmes arrested 12,884 Jews, including 4,115 children, and confined them during five days at theVel d'Hiv (Vélodrome d'Hiver), from which they were transported by train to the extermination camp atAuschwitz. None of the children came back.[72][73] On 25 August 1944, the city was liberated by theFrench 2nd Armoured Division and the4th Infantry Division of theUnited States Army. GeneralCharles de Gaulle led a huge and emotional crowd down the Champs Élysées towards Notre Dame de Paris and made a rousing speech from theHôtel de Ville.[74]
In the 1950s and the 1960s, Paris became one front of theAlgerian War for independence; in August 1961, the pro-independenceFLN targeted and killed 11 Paris policemen, leading to the imposition of a curfew on Muslims of Algeria (who, at that time, were French citizens). On 17 October 1961, an unauthorised but peaceful protest demonstration of Algerians against the curfew led toviolent confrontations between the police and demonstrators, in which at least 40 people were killed. The anti-independenceOrganisation armée secrète (OAS) carried out a series of bombings in Paris throughout 1961 and 1962.[75][76]
In May 1968, protesting students occupied theSorbonne and put up barricades in theLatin Quarter. Thousands of Parisian blue-collar workers joined the students, and the movement grew into a two-week general strike. Supporters of the government won the June elections by a large majority. TheMay 1968 events in France resulted in the break-up of the University of Paris into 13 independent campuses.[77] In 1975, the National Assembly changed the status of Paris to that of other French cities and, on 25 March 1977,Jacques Chirac became the first elected mayor of Paris since 1793.[78] TheTour Maine-Montparnasse, the tallest building in the city at 57 storeys and 210 m (689 ft) high, was built between 1969 and 1973. It was highly controversial, and it remains the only building in the centre of the city over 32 storeys high.[79] The population of Paris dropped from 2,850,000 in 1954 to 2,152,000 in 1990, as middle-class families moved to the suburbs.[80] A suburban railway network, theRER (Réseau Express Régional), was built to complement the Métro; thePériphérique expressway encircling the city, was completed in 1973.[81]
In the early 21st century, the population of Paris began to increase slowly again, as more young people moved into the city. It reached 2.25 million in 2011. In March 2001,Bertrand Delanoë became the first socialist mayor. He was re-elected in March 2008.[83] In 2007, in an effort to reduce car traffic, he introduced theVélib', a system which rents bicycles. Bertrand Delanoë also transformed a section of the highway along the Left Bank of the Seine into an urban promenade and park, thePromenade des Berges de la Seine, which he inaugurated in June 2013.[84]
In 2007, PresidentNicolas Sarkozy launched theGrand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the towns in the region around it. After many modifications, the new area, named theMetropolis of Grand Paris, with a population of 6.7 million, was created on 1 January 2016.[85] In 2011, the City of Paris and the national government approved the plans for theGrand Paris Express, totalling 205 km (127 mi) of automated metro lines to connect Paris, the innermost three departments around Paris, airports andhigh-speed rail (TGV) stations, at an estimated cost of €35 billion.[86] The system is scheduled to be completed by 2030.[87]
A 2022 satellite image of Paris, by ESA'sSentinel-2 mission
Paris is located in northern central France, in a north-bending arc of the riverSeine, whose crest includes two islands, theÎle Saint-Louis and the largerÎle de la Cité, which form the oldest part of Paris. The river's mouth on theEnglish Channel (La Manche) is about 233 mi (375 km) downstream from Paris. Paris is spread widely on both banks of the river.[94] Overall, Paris is relatively flat, and the lowest point is 35 m (115 ft)above sea level. Paris has several prominent hills, the highest of which isMontmartre at 130 m (427 ft).[95]
Excluding the outlying parks ofBois de Boulogne andBois de Vincennes, Paris covers an oval measuring about 87 km2 (34 sq mi) in area, enclosed by the 35 km (22 mi) ring road, theBoulevard Périphérique.[96] Paris' last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 gave it its modern form, and created the 20 clockwise-spiralling arrondissements (municipal boroughs). From the 1860 area of 78 km2 (30 sq mi), the city limits were expanded marginally to 86.9 km2 (33.6 sq mi) in the 1920s. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were annexed to the city, bringing its area to about 105 km2 (41 sq mi).[97] The metropolitan area is 2,300 km2 (890 sq mi).[94]
Measured from the'point zero' in front of itsNotre-Dame cathedral, Paris by road is 450 km (280 mi) southeast of London, 287 km (178 mi) south ofCalais, 305 km (190 mi) southwest ofBrussels, 774 km (481 mi) north ofMarseille, 385 km (239 mi) northeast ofNantes, and 135 km (84 mi) southeast ofRouen.[98]
Paris has anoceanic climate within theKöppen climate classification, typical of western Europe. This climate type features cool winters, with frequent rain and overcast skies, and mild to warm summers. Very hot and very cold temperatures and weather extremes are rare in this type of climate.[99][failed verification]
Summer days are usually mild and pleasant, with average temperatures between 15 and 25 °C (59 and 77 °F), and a fair amount of sunshine.[100] Each year there are a few days when the temperature rises above 32 °C (90 °F). Longer periods of more intense heat sometimes occur, such as theheat wave of 2003 when temperatures exceeded 30 °C (86 °F) for weeks, reached 40 °C (104 °F) on some days, and rarely cooled down at night.[101]
Spring and autumn have, on average, mild days and cool nights, but are changing and unstable. Surprisingly warm or cool weather occurs frequently in both seasons.[102] In winter, sunshine is scarce. Days are cool, and nights are cold but generally above freezing, with low temperatures around 3 °C (37 °F).[103] Light night frosts are quite common, but the temperature seldom dips below −5 °C (23 °F). Paris sometimes sees light snow or flurries with or without accumulation.[104]
Paris has an average annual precipitation of 641 mm (25.2 in), and experiences light rainfall distributed evenly throughout the year. Paris is known for intermittent, abrupt, heavy showers. The highest recorded temperature was 42.6 °C (108.7 °F), on 25 July 2019.[105] The lowest was −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F), on 10 December 1879.[106]
Climate data for Paris (Parc Montsouris), elevation: 75 m (246 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1872–present
For almost all of its long history, except for a few brief periods, Paris was governed directly by representatives of the king, emperor, or president of France. In 1974, Paris was granted municipal autonomy by the National Assembly.[110] The first modern elected mayor of Paris wasJacques Chirac, elected March 1977, becoming the city's first mayor since 1871 and only the fourth since 1794. The current mayor isAnne Hidalgo, asocialist, first electedin April 2014,[111] and re-electedin June 2020.[112]
The mayor of Paris iselected indirectly by Paris voters. The voters of each of the city's 20 arrondissements elect members to theConseil de Paris (Council of Paris), which elects the mayor. The council is composed of 163 members. Each arrondissement is allocated a number of seats dependent upon its population, from 10 members for each of the least-populated arrondissements, to 34 members for the most populated. The council is elected usingclosed listproportional representation in atwo-round system.[113]
Party lists winning an absolutemajority in the first round – or at least aplurality in the second round – automatically win half the seats of an arrondissement. The remaining half of seats are distributed proportionally to all lists which win at least 5% of the vote, using thehighest averages method.[113] This ensures that the winning party or coalition always wins a majority of the seats, even if they do not win an absolute majority of the vote.[114]
Prior to the2020 Paris municipal election, each of Paris's 20 arrondissements had its own town hall and a directly elected council (conseil d'arrondissement), which elects an arrondissement mayor.[115] The council of each arrondissement is composed of members of the Conseil de Paris, and members who serve only on the council of the arrondissement. The number of deputy mayors in each arrondissement varies depending upon its population. As of 1996, there were 20 arrondissement mayors and 120 deputy mayors.[110] The creation ofParis Centre, a unified administrative division with a single mayor covering the first four arrondissements, took effect with the said 2020 election. The other 16 arrondissements continue to have their own mayors.[116]
Métropole du Grand Paris
A map of the Greater Paris Metropolis and its governing territories
In January 2016, theMétropole du Grand Paris, or simplyGrand Paris, came into existence.[117] It is an administrative structure for co-operation between the City of Paris and its nearest suburbs. It includes the City of Paris, plus the communes of the three departments of the inner suburbs,Hauts-de-Seine,Seine-Saint-Denis andVal-de-Marne, plus seven communes in the outer suburbs, includingArgenteuil inVal d'Oise andParay-Vieille-Poste inEssonne, which were added to include the major airports of Paris. The Metropole covers 814 km2 (314 sq mi). In 2015, it had a population of 6.945 million people.[118][119]
The new structure is administered by a Metropolitan Council of 210 members, not directly elected, but chosen by the councils of the member Communes. By 2020 its basic competencies will include urban planning, housing and protection of the environment.[117][119] In January 2016,Patrick Ollier was elected the first president of the metropolitan council. Though the Metropole has a population of nearly seven million people and accounts for 25 percent of the GDP of France, it has a very small budget: just 65 million Euros, compared with eight billion Euros for the City of Paris.[120]
Regional government
TheRegion ofÎle de France, including Paris and its surrounding communities, is governed by theRegional Council, composed of 209 members representing its different communes. In December 2015, a list of candidates of the Union of the Right, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, led byValérie Pécresse, narrowly won the regional election, defeating a coalition of Socialists and ecologists. The Socialists had governed the region for seventeen years. The regional council has 121 members from the Union of the Right, 66 from the Union of the Left and 22 from the extreme right National Front.[121]
France's highest courts are located in Paris. TheCourt of Cassation, the highest court in the judicial order, which reviews criminal and civil cases, is located in thePalais de Justice on theÎle de la Cité.[127] TheConseil d'État, which provides legal advice to the executive and acts as the highest court in the administrative order, judging litigation against public bodies, is located in thePalais-Royal in the1st arrondissement.[128] TheConstitutional Council, an advisory body with ultimate authority on the constitutionality of laws and government decrees, meets in the Montpensier wing of the Palais Royal.[129]
There are 43,800 officers under the prefecture, and a fleet of more than 6,000 vehicles, including police cars, motorcycles, fire trucks, boats and helicopters.[130] The national police has its own special unit for riot control and crowd control and security of public buildings, called theCompagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS). Vans of CRS agents are frequently seen in the centre of Paris when there are demonstrations and public events. The police are supported by theNational Gendarmerie, a branch of theFrench Armed Forces. Their police operations are supervised by the Ministry of the Interior.[131]
Crime in Paris is similar to that in most large cities. Violent crime is relatively rare in the city centre. Political violence is uncommon, though very large demonstrations may occur in Paris and other French cities simultaneously. These demonstrations, usually managed by a strong police presence, can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.[132]
Cityscape
A panorama of Paris from the Eiffel Tower, in a 360-degree view. TheSeine river flows from the north-east to the south-west, right to left
Paris is one of the few world capitals that has rarely seen destruction by catastrophe or war. As a result, even its earliest history is visible in its streetmap, and centuries of rulers adding their respective architectural marks on the capital has resulted in an accumulated wealth of history-rich monuments and buildings whose beauty plays a large part in giving Paris the reputation it has today.[133] At its origin, before the Middle Ages, Paris was composed of several islands and sandbanks in a bend of theSeine. Of those, two remain today:Île Saint-Louis and theÎle de la Cité. A third one is the 1827 artificially createdÎle aux Cygnes.
Modern Paris owes much of its downtown plan and architectural harmony toNapoleon III and his Prefect of the Seine,Baron Haussmann. Between1853 and 1870 they rebuilt the city centre, created the wide downtown boulevards and squares where the boulevards intersected, imposed standard facades along the boulevards, and required that the facades be built of the distinctive cream-grey "Paris stone". They built the major parks around central Paris.[134] The high residential population of the city centre makes Paris much different from most other major western cities.[135]
Paris's urbanism laws have been under strict control since the early 17th century,[136] particularly where street-front alignment, building height and building distribution is concerned.[136] The 210 m (690 ft)Tour Montparnasse was both Paris's and France's tallest building since 1973,[137] Since 2011, this record has been held by theLa Défense quarterTour First tower inCourbevoie.
In 2018, the most expensive residential street in Paris by average price per square metre, wasAvenue Montaigne, at 22,372 euros per square metre.[138] In 2011, the number of residences in the City of Paris was 1,356,074. Among these, 1,165,541 (85.9 percent) were main residences, 91,835 (6.8 percent) were secondary residences, and the remaining 7.3 percent were empty.[139]
Sixty-two percent of buildings date from 1949 and before, with 20 percent built between 1949 and 1974. 18 percent of Paris buildings were built after 1974.[140] Two-thirds of the city's 1.3 million residences are studio and two-room apartments. Paris averages 1.9 people per residence, a number that has remained constant since the 1980s, which is less than Île-de-France's 2.33 person-per-residence average. Only 33 percent of principal residence Parisians own their habitation, against 47 percent for the wider Île-de-France region. Most of Paris' population rent their residence.[140] In 2017, social or public housing was 19.9 percent Paris' residences. Its distribution varies widely throughout Paris, from 2.6 percent of the housing in the wealthy 7th arrondissement, to 39.9 percent in the 19th arrondissement.[141]
19th Arrondissement Residential Area
In February 2019, a Paris NGO conducted its annual citywide count of homeless persons. They counted 3,641 homeless persons in Paris, of whom twelve percent were women. More than half had been homeless for more than a year. 2,885 were living in the streets or parks, 298 in train and metro stations, and 756 in other forms of temporary shelter. This was an increase of 588 persons since 2018.[142]
Suburbs
Western Paris in 2016, photographed by aSkySat satelliteWest of Paris seen fromTour Montparnasse, 2019
Aside from the 20th-century addition of the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes and the Paris heliport, Paris's administrative limits have remained unchanged since 1860. A greater administrativeSeine department had been governing Paris and its suburbs since its creation in 1790, but the rising suburban population had made it difficult to maintain as a unique entity. To address this problem, the parent "District de la région parisienne" ('district of the Paris region') was reorganised into several new departments from 1968: Paris became a department in itself, and the administration of its suburbs was divided between the three new departments surrounding it. The district of the Paris region was renamed "Île-de-France" in 1977, but this abbreviated "Paris region" name is still commonly used today to describe the Île-de-France, and as a vague reference to the entire Paris agglomeration.[143] Long-intended measures to unite Paris with its suburbs began in January 2016, when the Métropole duGrand Paris came into existence.[117]
Paris's disconnect with its suburbs, its lack of suburban transportation, in particular, became all too apparent with the Paris agglomeration's growth.Paul Delouvrier promised to resolve the Paris-suburbsmésentente when he became head of the Paris region in 1961.[144] Two of his most ambitious projects for the Region were the construction of five suburban "villes nouvelles" ("new cities")[145] and theRER commuter train network.[146]
Many other suburban residential districts (grands ensembles) were built between the 1960s and 1970s, to provide a low-cost solution for a rapidly expanding population.[147] These districts were socially mixed at first,[148] but few residents actually owned their homes. The growing economy made these accessible to the middle classes only from the 1970s.[149] Their poor construction quality and their haphazard insertion into existing urban growth contributed to their desertion by those able to move elsewhere, and their repopulation by those with more limited resources.[149]
These areas,quartiers sensibles ("sensitive quarters"), are in northern and eastern Paris, namely around itsGoutte d'Or andBelleville neighbourhoods. To the north of Paris, they are grouped mainly in theSeine-Saint-Denisdepartment, and to a lesser extreme to the east in theVal-d'Oisedepartment. Other difficult areas are located in theSeine valley, inÉvry etCorbeil-Essonnes (Essonne), inMureaux,Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), and scattered among social housing districts created by Delouvrier's 1961 "ville nouvelle" political initiative.[150]
The Paris agglomeration'surban sociology is basically that of 19th-century Paris: the wealthy live in the west and southwest, and the middle-to-working classes are in the north and east. The remaining areas are mostly middle-class, dotted with wealthy islands in areas of historical importance, namelySaint-Maur-des-Fossés to the east andEnghien-les-Bains to the north of Paris.[151]
The population of the City of Paris was 2,102,650 in January 2023, down from 2,165,423 in January 2022, according to theINSEE, the French statistical agency. Between 2013 and 2023, the population fell by 122,919, or about five percent. The Mayor of Paris,Anne Hidalgo, declared that this illustrated the "de-densification" of the city, creating more green space and less crowding.[154][155] Despite the drop, Paris remains the most densely-populated city in Europe, with 252 residents per hectare, not counting parks.[156] This drop was attributed partly to a lower birth rate, the departure of middle-class residents and the possible loss of housing in Paris, due to short-term rentals for tourism.[157]
Paris is the fourth largest municipality in the European Union, afterBerlin,Madrid andRome.Eurostat places Paris (6.5 million people) behind London (8 million) and ahead of Berlin (3.5 million), based on the 2012 populations of what Eurostat calls "urban audit core cities".[158]The population of Paris today is lower than its historical peak of 2.9 million in 1921.[159] The principal reasons are a significant decline in household size, and a dramatic migration of residents to the suburbs between 1962 and 1975. Factors in the migration includedde-industrialisation, high rent, thegentrification of many inner quarters, the transformation of living space into offices, and greater affluence among working families. Paris's population loss came to a temporary halt at the beginning of the 21st century. The population increased from 2,125,246 in 1999 to 2,240,621 in 2012, before declining again slightly in 2017, 2018, and again in 2021.[160][161]
In 2012, according toEurostat, the EU statistical agency, in 2012 the Commune of Paris was the most densely populated city in the European Union. There were 21,616 people per square kilometre within the city limits, the NUTS-3 statistical area, ahead of Inner London West, which had 10,374 people per square kilometre. In the same census, three departments bordering Paris,Hauts-de-Seine,Seine-Saint-Denis andVal-de-Marne, had population densities of over 10,000 people per square kilometre, ranking among the 10 most densely populated areas of the EU.[167][verification needed]
Migration
Under French law, people born in foreign countries with no French citizenship at birth are defined as immigrants. In the 2012 census, 135,853 residents of the City of Paris were immigrants fromEurope, 112,369 were immigrants from theMaghreb, 70,852 fromsub-Saharan Africa andEgypt, 5,059 fromTurkey, 91,297 fromAsia outside Turkey, 38,858 from theAmericas, and 1,365 from theSouth Pacific.[168]
In the Paris Region, 590,504 residents were immigrants from Europe, 627,078 were immigrants from the Maghreb, 435,339 from sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt, 69,338 from Turkey, 322,330 from Asia outside Turkey, 113,363 from the Americas, and 2,261 from the South Pacific.[169]
In 2012, there were 8,810 British citizens and 10,019 United States citizens living in the City of Paris (Ville de Paris), and 20,466 British citizens and 16,408 United States citizens living in the entire Paris Region (Île-de-France).[170][171]
In 2020–2021, about 6 million people, or 41% of the population of the Paris Region, were either immigrants (21%) or had at least one immigrant parent (20%). These figures do not include French people born in Overseas France and their direct descendants.[172]
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Paris was the largestCatholic city in the world.[173] French census data does not contain information about religious affiliation.[174] In a 2011 survey by theInstitut français d'opinion publique (IFOP), a French public opinion research organisation, 61 percent of residents of the Paris Region (Île-de-France) identified themselves asRoman Catholic. In the same survey, 7 percent of residents identified themselves as Muslims, 4 percent as Protestants, 2 percent as Jewish and 25 percent as without religion.
According to the INSEE, between 4 and 5 million French residents were born, or had at least one parent born, in a predominantly Muslim country, particularlyAlgeria,Morocco andTunisia. An IFOP survey in 2008 reported that, of immigrants from these predominantly Muslim countries, 25 percent went to the mosque regularly. 41 percent practised the religion, and 34 percent were believers, but did not practice the religion.[175][176] In 2012 and 2013, it was estimated that there were almost 500,000 Muslims in the City of Paris, 1.5 million Muslims in the Île-de-France region and 4 to 5 million Muslims in France.[177][178]
In 2014, the Jewish population of the Paris Region was estimated to be 282,000, the largest concentration of Jews in the world outside ofIsrael and the United States.[179]
The economy of the City of Paris is based largely on services and commerce. Of the 390,480 enterprises in Paris, 80.6 percent are engaged in commerce, transportation, and diverse services, 6.5 percent in construction, and 3.8 percent in industry.[183] The story is similar in theParis Region (Île-de-France): 76.7 percent of enterprises are engaged in commerce and services, and 3.4 percent in industry.[184]
At the 2012 census, 59.5% of jobs in the Paris Region were in market services (12.0% in wholesale and retail trade, 9.7% in professional, scientific, and technical services, 6.5% in information and communication, 6.5% in transportation and warehousing, 5.9% in finance and insurance, 5.8% in administrative and support services, 4.6% in accommodation and food services, and 8.5% in various other market services), 26.9% in non-market services (10.4% in human health and social work activities, 9.6% in public administration and defence, and 6.9% in education), 8.2% in manufacturing and utilities (6.6% in manufacturing and 1.5% in utilities), 5.2% in construction, and 0.2% in agriculture.[185][186]
The Paris Region had 5.4 million salaried employees in 2010, of whom 2.2 million were concentrated in 39pôles d'emplois or business districts. The largest of these, in terms of number of employees, is known in French as the QCA, orquartier central des affaires. In 2010, it was the workplace of 500,000 salaried employees, about 30 percent of the salaried employees in Paris and 10 percent of those in the Île-de-France. The largest sectors of activity in the central business district were finance and insurance (16 percent of employees in the district) and business services (15 percent). The district includes a large concentration of department stores, shopping areas, hotels and restaurants, as well a government offices and ministries.[187]
The second-largest business district in terms of employment isLa Défense, just west of the city. In 2010, it was the workplace of 144,600 employees, of whom 38 percent worked in finance and insurance, 16 percent in business support services. Two other important districts,Neuilly-sur-Seine andLevallois-Perret, are extensions of the Paris business district and of La Défense. Another district, includingBoulogne-Billancourt,Issy-les-Moulineaux and the southern part of the 15th arrondissement, is a centre of activity for the media and information technology.[187]
In 2021, the top French companies listed in theFortune Global 500 all have their headquarters in the Paris Region. Six are in the central business district of the City of Paris, four are close to the city in theHauts-de-Seine Department, three are inLa Défense and one is inBoulogne-Billancourt. Some companies, likeSociété Générale, have offices in both Paris and La Défense. The Paris Region is France's leading region for economic activity, with aGDP of€765 billion, of which €253 billion was in Paris city.[188] In 2021, its GDP ranked first among the metropolitan regions of the EU, and its per-capita GDP PPP was the 8th highest.[189][190][191] While the Paris region's population accounted for 18.8 percent of metropolitan France in 2019,[3] the Paris region's GDP accounted for 32 percent of metropolitan France's GDP.[192][193]
The Paris Region economy has gradually shifted from industry to high-value-added service industries (finance, IT services) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc.).[194] The Paris region's most intense economic activity through the centralHauts-de-Seine department and suburban La Défense business district places Paris's economic centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between theOpéra Garnier,La Défense and theVal de Seine.[194] While the Paris economy is dominated byservices, and employment in manufacturing sector has declined sharply, the region remains an important manufacturing centre, particularly for aeronautics, automobiles, and "eco" industries.[194]
In the 2017 worldwide cost of living survey by theEconomist Intelligence Unit, based on a survey made in September 2016, Paris ranked as the seventh most expensive city in the world, and the second most expensive in Europe, afterZürich.[195] In 2018, Paris was the most expensive city in the world withSingapore andHong Kong.[196]Station F is abusiness incubator for startups, noted as the world's largest startup facility.[197]
Employment and income
The median income in Paris and its nearest departments, 2018. High income in red, low income in yellow
In 2007, the majority of Paris's salaried employees filled 370,000 businesses services jobs, concentrated in the north-western 8th, 16th and 17th arrondissements.[198] Paris's financial service companies are concentrated in the central-western 8th and 9th arrondissement banking and insurance district.[198] Paris's department store district in the 1st, 6th, 8th and 9th arrondissements employ ten percent of mostly female Paris workers, with 100,000 of these in the retail trade.[198] Fourteen percent of Parisians worked in hotels and restaurants and other services to individuals.[198]
Nineteen percent of Paris employees work for the State in either administration or education. The majority of Paris's healthcare and social workers work at the hospitals and social housing, concentrated in the peripheral 13th, 14th, 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements.[198] Outside Paris, the western Hauts-de-Seine departmentLa Défense district specialising in finance, insurance and scientific research district, employs 144,600.[194] The north-eastern Seine-Saint-Denis audiovisual sector has 200 media firms and 10 major film studios.[194]
Paris's manufacturing is mostly focused in its suburbs. Paris has around 75,000 manufacturing workers, most of which are in the textile, clothing, leather goods, and shoe trades.[194] In 2015, the Paris region's 800 aerospace companies employed 100,000.[194] Four hundred automobile industry companies employ another 100,000 workers. Many of these are centred in theYvelines department, around the Renault and PSA-Citroën plants. This department alone employs 33,000.[194] In 2014, the industry as a whole suffered a major loss, with the closing of a majorAulnay-sous-Bois Citroën assembly plant.[194]
The southernEssonne department specialises in science and technology.[194] The south-easternVal-de-Marne, with its wholesaleRungis food market, specialises in food processing and beverages.[194] The Paris region's manufacturing decline is quickly being replaced by eco-industries. These employ about 100,000 workers.[194]
Incomes are higher in the Western part of Paris and in the western suburbs, than in the northern and eastern parts of the urban area.[199] While Paris has some of the richest neighbourhoods in France, it also has some of the poorest, mostly on the eastern side of the city. In 2012, 14 percent of households in Paris earned less than €977 per month, the officialpoverty line. Twenty-five percent of residents in the 19th arrondissement lived below the poverty line. In Paris' wealthiest neighbourhood, the 7th arrondissement, 7 percent lived below the poverty line.[200] The unemployment rate in Paris in the 4th trimester of 2021 was six percent, compared with 7.4 percent in the whole of France. This was the lowest rate in thirteen years.[201][202]
Tourism continued to recover in the Paris region in 2022, increasing to 44 million visitors, an increase of 95 percent over 2021, but still 13 percent lower than in 2019.[203]
Greater Paris, comprising Paris and its three surrounding departments, received a record 38 million visitors in 2019, measured by hotel arrivals.[204] These included 12.2 million French visitors. Of the foreign visitors, the greatest number came from the United States (2.6 million), United Kingdom (1.2 million), Germany (981 thousand) and China (711 thousand).[204]
In 2018, measured by theEuromonitor Global Cities Destination Index, Paris was the second-busiest airline destination in the world, with 19.10 million visitors, behind Bangkok (22.78 million) but ahead of London (19.09 million).[205] In 2016, 393,008 workers in Greater Paris, or 12.4 percent of the total workforce, were engaged in tourism-related sectors such as hotels, catering, transport and leisure.[206]
In 2019, Greater Paris had 2,056 hotels, including 94 five-star hotels, with a total of 121,646 rooms.[204] In 2019, in addition to the hotels, Greater Paris had 60,000 homes registered withAirbnb.[204] Under French law, renters of these units must pay the Paris tourism tax. The company paid the city government 7.3 million euros in 2016.[207][208][full citation needed]
A minuscule fraction of foreign visitors suffer fromParis syndrome, when their experiences do not meet expectations.[209]
For centuries, Paris has attracted artists from around the world. As a result, Paris has acquired a reputation as the "City of Art".[210] Italian artists were a profound influence on the development of art in Paris in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in sculpture and reliefs. Painting and sculpture became the pride of the French monarchy and the French royal family commissioned many Parisian artists to adorn their palaces during theFrench Baroque and Classicism era. Sculptors such asGirardon,Coysevox andCoustou acquired reputations as the finest artists in the royal court in 17th-century France.Pierre Mignard became the first painter to KingLouis XIV during this period. In 1648, theAcadémie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) was established to accommodate for the dramatic interest in art in the capital. This served as France's top art school until 1793.[211]
The largest opera houses of Paris are the 19th-century Opéra Garnier (historicalParis Opéra) and modernOpéra Bastille; the former tends toward the more classic ballets and operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern.[216] In the middle of the 19th century, there were three other active and competing opera houses: the Opéra-Comique (which still exists),Théâtre-Italien andThéâtre Lyrique (which in modern times changed its profile and name toThéâtre de la Ville).[217]Philharmonie de Paris, the modern symphonic concert hall of Paris, opened in January 2015. Another musical landmark is theThéâtre des Champs-Élysées, where the first performances of Diaghilev'sBallets Russes took place in 1913.
Theatre traditionally has occupied a large place in Parisian culture, and many of its most popular actors today are also stars of French television. The oldest and most famous Paris theatre is theComédie-Française, founded in 1680. Run by the Government of France, it performs mostly French classics at the Salle Richelieu in thePalais-Royal.[218] Other famous theatres include theOdéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, also a state institution and theatrical landmark; the Théâtre Mogador; and theThéâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.[219]
TheCasino de Paris presented many famous French singers, includingMistinguett,Maurice Chevalier andTino Rossi. Other famous Paris music halls includeLe Lido, on the Champs-Élysées, opened in 1946; and theCrazy Horse Saloon, featuring strip-tease, dance and magic, opened in 1951. A half dozen music halls exist today in Paris, attended mostly by visitors to the city.[220]
The first book printed in France,Epistolae ("Letters"), byGasparinus de Bergamo (Gasparino da Barzizza), was published in Paris in 1470 by the press established byJohann Heynlin. Since then, Paris has been the centre of the French publishing industry, the home of some of the world's best-known writers and poets, and the setting for many classic works of French literature. Paris did not become the acknowledged capital of French literature until the 17th century, with authors such asBoileau,Corneille,La Fontaine,Molière,Racine,Charles Perrault,[221] several coming from the provinces, as well as the foundation of theAcadémie française.[222] In the 18th century, the literary life of Paris revolved around the cafés and salons; it was dominated byVoltaire,Jean-Jacques Rousseau,Pierre de Marivaux andPierre Beaumarchais.
Paris is a city of books and bookstores. In the 1970s, 80 percent of French-language publishing houses were found in Paris.[227] It is also a city of small bookstores. There are about 150 bookstores in the 5th arrondissement alone, plus another 250 book stalls along the Seine. Small Paris bookstores are protected against competition from discount booksellers by French law; books, even e-books, cannot be discounted more than five percent below their publisher's cover price.[228]
In the late 12th century, a school ofpolyphony was established at Notre-Dame. Among theTrouvères of northern France, a group of Parisian aristocrats became known for their poetry and songs.Troubadours, from the south of France, were also popular. During the reign ofFrançois I, in theRenaissance era, thelute became popular in the French court. The French royal family and courtiers "disported themselves in masques, ballets, allegorical dances, recitals, and opera and comedy", and a national musical printing house was established.[211] In theBaroque-era, noted composers includedJean-Baptiste Lully,Jean-Philippe Rameau, andFrançois Couperin.[211] TheConservatoire de Musique de Paris was founded in 1795.[229] By 1870, Paris had become an important centre for symphony, ballet and operatic music.
Bal-musette is a style of French music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1870s and 1880s; by 1880 Paris had some 150 dance halls.[232] Patrons danced thebourrée to the accompaniment of thecabrette (abellows-blownbagpipe locally called a "musette") and often thevielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy) in the cafés and bars of the city. Parisian and Italian musicians who played theaccordion adopted the style and established themselves in Auvergnat bars,[233] and Paris became a major centre forjazz and still attracts jazz musicians from all around the world to its clubs and cafés.[234]
Paris is the spiritual home ofgypsy jazz in particular, and many of the Parisian jazzmen who developed in the first half of the 20th century began by playing Bal-musette in the city.[233]Django Reinhardt rose to fame in Paris, having moved to the 18th arrondissement in a caravan as a young boy, and performed with violinistStéphane Grappelli and theirQuintette du Hot Club de France in the 1930s and 1940s.[235]
Immediately after the War theSaint-Germain-des-Pres quarter and the nearby Saint-Michel quarter became home to many small jazz clubs, including the Caveau des Lorientais, the Club Saint-Germain, the Rose Rouge, the Vieux-Colombier, and the most famous,Le Tabou. They introduced Parisians to the music ofClaude Luter,Boris Vian,Sydney Bechet,Mezz Mezzrow, andHenri Salvador. Most of the clubs closed by the early 1960s, as musical tastes shifted toward rock and roll.[236]
Some of the finestmanouche musicians in the world are found here playing the cafés of the city at night.[235] Some of the more notable jazz venues include the New Morning, Le Sunset, La Chope des Puces and Bouquet du Nord.[234][235] Several yearly festivals take place in Paris, including theParis Jazz Festival and the rock festivalRock en Seine.[237] TheOrchestre de Paris was established in 1967.[238] December 2015 was the 100th anniversary of the birth ofEdith Piaf—widely regarded as France's nationalchanteuse, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars.[239]
Paris has a bighip hop scene. This music became popular during the 1980s.[240] The presence of a large African and Caribbean community helped to its development, giving political and social status for many minorities.[241]
The movie industry was born in Paris whenAuguste and Louis Lumière projected the first motion picture for a paying audience at the Grand Café on 28 December 1895.[242] Many of Paris's concert/dance halls were transformed into cinemas when the media became popular beginning in the 1930s. Paris's largest cinema room today is in theGrand Rex theatre with 2,700 seats.[243] Big multiplex cinemas have been built since the 1990s. UGC Ciné Cité Les Halles with 27 screens, MK2 Bibliothèque with 20 screens and UGC Ciné Cité Bercy with 18 screens are among the largest.[244]
Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's global cities, with cinemas primarily dominated by Hollywood-generated film entertainment.French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (réalisateurs) such asClaude Lelouch,Jean-Luc Godard, andLuc Besson, and the more slapstick/popular genre with directorClaude Zidi as an example. European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated.[245]
Since the late 18th century, Paris has been famous for its restaurants andhaute cuisine, food meticulously prepared and artfully presented. A luxury restaurant, La Taverne Anglaise, opened in 1786 in the arcades of thePalais-Royal byAntoine Beauvilliers; it became a model for future Paris restaurants. The restaurantLe Grand Véfour in the Palais-Royal dates from the same period.[246] The famous Paris restaurants of the 19th century, including the Café de Paris, theRocher de Cancale, theCafé Anglais,Maison Dorée and the Café Riche, were mostly located near the theatres on theBoulevard des Italiens. Several of the best-known restaurants in Paris today appeared during theBelle Époque, includingMaxim's on Rue Royale,Ledoyen in the gardens of theChamps-Élysées, and theTour d'Argent on the Quai de la Tournelle.[247]
Today, owing to Paris's cosmopolitan population, every French regional cuisine and almost every national cuisine in the world can be found there; the city has more than 9,000 restaurants.[248] TheMichelin Guide has been a standard guide to French restaurants since 1900, awarding its highest award, three stars, to the best restaurants in France. In 2018, of the 27 Michelin three-star restaurants in France, ten are located in Paris. These include both restaurants which serve classical French cuisine, such asL'Ambroisie in the Place des Vosges, and those which serve non-traditional menus, such asL'Astrance, which combines French and Asian cuisines. Several of France's most famous chefs, includingPierre Gagnaire,Alain Ducasse,Yannick Alléno andAlain Passard, have three-star restaurants in Paris.[249][250]
Paris has several other kinds of traditional eating places. Thecafé arrived in Paris in the 17th century, and by the 18th century Parisian cafés were centres of the city's political and cultural life. TheCafé Procope on the Left Bank dates from this period. In the 20th century, the cafés of the Left Bank, especiallyCafé de la Rotonde andLe Dôme Café in Montparnasse andCafé de Flore andLes Deux Magots on Boulevard Saint Germain, all still in business, were important meeting places for painters, writers and philosophers.[247] Abistro is a type of eating place loosely defined as a neighbourhood restaurant with a modest decor and prices and a regular clientele and a congenial atmosphere. Real bistros are increasingly rare in Paris, due to rising costs, competition, and different eating habits of Parisian diners.[251] Abrasserie originally was a tavern located next to a brewery, which served beer and food at any hour. Beginning with theParis Exposition of 1867, it became a popular kind of restaurant which featured beer and other beverages served by young women in the national costume associated with the beverage. Now brasseries, like cafés, serve food and drinks throughout the day.[252]
Bastille Day, a celebration of the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the biggest festival in the city, is a military parade taking place every year on 14 July on theChamps-Élysées, from theArc de Triomphe toPlace de la Concorde. It includes aflypast over the Champs Élysées by thePatrouille de France, a parade of military units and equipment, and a display of fireworks in the evening, the most spectacular being the one at the Eiffel Tower.[268]
Some other yearly festivals areParis-Plages, a festive summertime event when the Right Bank of the Seine is converted into a temporary beach;[268]Journées du Patrimoine,Fête de la Musique, Techno Parade,Nuit Blanche, Cinéma au clair de lune, Printemps des rues, Festival d'automne, and Fête des jardins. TheCarnaval de Paris, one of the oldest festivals in Paris, dates back to the Middle Ages.
TheBibliothèque Forney, in the Marais district, is dedicated to the decorative arts; the Arsenal Library occupies a former military building, and has a large collection on French literature; and theBibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris, also in Le Marais, contains the Paris historical research service. TheSainte-Geneviève Library, designed byHenri Labrouste and built in the mid-1800s, contains a rare book and manuscript division.[270]Bibliothèque Mazarine is the oldest public library in France. TheMédiathèque Musicale Mahler opened in 1986 and contains collections related to music. The François Mitterrand Library (nicknamedTrès Grande Bibliothèque) was completed in 1994 to a design ofDominique Perrault and contains four glass towers.[270]
There are several academic libraries and archives in Paris. TheSorbonne Library is the largest university library in Paris. In addition to theSorbonne location, there are branches in Malesherbes, Clignancourt-Championnet, Michelet-Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie, Serpente-Maison de la Recherche, and Institut des Etudes Ibériques.[271] Other academic libraries include Interuniversity Pharmaceutical Library, Leonardo da Vinci University Library, Paris School of Mines Library, and the René Descartes University Library.[272]
The final stage of the most famousbicycle racing in the world,Tour de France, always finishes in Paris. Since 1975, the race hasfinished on the Champs-Elysées.[276]Tennis is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France; theFrench Open, held every year on the red clay of the Roland Garros National Tennis Centre,[277] is one of the fourGrand Slam events of the world professional tennis tour. The 17,000-seatBercy Arena (officially namedAccorHotels Arena and formerly known as thePalais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy) is the venue for the annualParis MastersATP Tour tennis tournament. The Bercy Arena also hosted the2017 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship, together withCologne, Germany. The final stages of the FIBAEuroBasket 1951 andEuroBasket 1999 were also played in Paris, the latter at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy.
ProfessionalHandball clubParis Saint-Germain (the handball department of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club) plays in the highest tier of French handball, theLNH Division 1.
TheGare du Nord railway station is the busiest in Europe.
Paris is a major rail, highway, and air transport hub. TheÎle-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) oversees the transit network in the region.[280] The syndicate coordinates public transport. TheRATP operates 347bus lines, theMétro, eight tramway lines, and sections of the RER. TheSNCF operates suburban rails, one tramway line and the other sections of the RER. TheOptile consortium of private operators manages 1,176 bus lines.[281]
Paris has one of the mostsustainable transportation systems in the world,[14][282] and is one of only two cities that received theSustainable Transport Award twice, in 2008 and 2023.[15] In 2022–2023, 53.3% of trips in Paris were made on foot, 30% on public transport, 11.2% on bicycles and 4.3% on cars.[283][284] Bike lanes are being doubled, and electric car incentives are being created. Paris is banning the most polluting automobiles from key districts.[285][286]
Since the inauguration of its first line in 1900, Paris's Métro network has grown to become the city's most widely used local transport system. In 2015, it carried about 5.23 million passengers daily.[287] There are 16 lines, 321 stations (405 stops) and 245.6 km (152.6 mi) of rails. Superimposed on this is a "regional express network", the RER, whose five lines, 257 stops and 602 km (374 mi) of rails connect Paris to more distant parts of the urban area. With over 1.4 million passengers per dayRER A is the busiest metro line in Europe. TheParis region is served bya light rail network, the tramway. Opened since 1992, fourteen lines are operational. The network is 186.6 kilometres (115.9 mi) long, with 278 stations.
Air
In 2023,Charles de Gaulle Airport was the third-busiest airport in Europe and the eleventh-busiest airport in the world.[288]
Paris is the most important hub of France'smotorway network, and is surrounded by three orbital freeways: thePériphérique,[96] which follows the approximate path of 19th-century fortifications around Paris, theA86 motorway in the inner suburbs, and theFrancilienne motorway in the outer suburbs. Paris has an extensive road network with over 2,000 km (1,243 mi) of highways and motorways.
Waterways
The Paris region is the most active water transport area in France. Most of the cargo is handled by thePorts of Paris, in facilities located around Paris. The riversLoire,Rhine,Rhône,Meuse, andScheldt can be reached by canals connecting with the Seine, which include theCanal Saint-Martin,Canal Saint-Denis, and the Canal de l'Ourcq.[292]
There are 440 km (270 mi) ofcycle paths and routes in Paris. These includepiste cyclable, bike lanes separated from other traffic by physical barriers, andbande cyclable, a bicycle lane denoted by a painted path on the road). Some 29 km (18 mi) of specially marked bus lanes are free for use by cyclists, with a protective barrier against encroachments from vehicles.[293] Cyclists have the right to ride in both directions on certain one-way streets. Paris has abike sharing system calledVélib' with more than 20,000 public bicycles distributed at 1,800 parking stations.[294]
Electricity
Electricity is provided to Paris through a peripheral grid, fed by multiple sources. In 2012, around 50% of electricity generated in theÎle-de-France came from cogeneration energy plants. Other energy sources included thermal power (35%), waste incineration (9% – with cogeneration plants, these provide the city in heat as well), methane gas (5%), hydraulics (1%), solar power (0.1%) and a negligible amount of wind power.[295] A quarter of the city'sdistrict heating is to come from a plant inSaint-Ouen-sur-Seine, burning a 50/50-mix of coal andwood pellets.[296]
Paris in its early history had only the rivers Seine andBièvre for water. From 1809, theCanal de l'Ourcq provided Paris with water from less-polluted rivers to the north-east of the capital.[297] From 1857, the civil engineerEugène Belgrand, underNapoleon III, oversaw the construction of a series of new aqueducts that brought water from locations all around the city to several reservoirs.[298]
From then on, the new reservoir system became Paris's principal source of drinking water. The remains of the old system, pumped into lower levels of the same reservoirs, were from then on used for the cleaning of Paris's streets. This system is still a major part of Paris's water-supply network. Today Paris has more than 2,400 km (1,491 mi) of underground sewers.[299]
Air pollution in Paris, from the point of view ofparticulate matter (PM10), is the highest in France with 38 μg/m3.[300] From the point of view of nitrogen dioxide pollution, Paris has one of the highest levels in the EU.[301]
TheParis Catacombs hold the remains of approximately 6 million people.
During the Roman era, Paris' main cemetery was located on the outskirts of theleft bank settlement. This changed with the rise of Catholic Christianity, where most every inner-city church had adjoining burial grounds for use by their parishes. With Paris's growth, many of these, particularly the city's largest cemetery, theHoly Innocents' Cemetery, were filled to overflowing. When inner-city burials were condemned from 1786, the contents of all Paris' parish cemeteries were transferred to a renovated section ofParis's stone mines, todayplace Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement.[308][309]
Paris is the département with the highest proportion of highly educated people. In 2009, around 40 percent of Parisians held alicence-level diploma or higher, the highest proportion in France.[313] 13 percent have no diploma, the third-lowest percentage in France. Education in Paris and the Île-de-France region employs approximately 330,000 people, 170,000 of whom are teachers and professors, teaching approximately 2.9 million students in around 9,000 primary, secondary, and higher education schools and institutions.[314]
The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of thegrandes écoles – 55 specialised centres of higher-education outside or inside the public university structure. The prestigious public universities are usually consideredgrands établissements. Most of thegrandes écoles were relocated to the suburbs of Paris in the 1960s and 1970s, in new campuses much larger than the old campuses within the crowded City of Paris. TheÉcole Normale Supérieure,PSL University has remained on rue d'Ulm in the5th arrondissement.[316]
Health care and emergency medical service in the City of Paris and its suburbs are provided by theAssistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), a public hospital system that employs more than 90,000 people, including practitioners, support personnel, and administrators, in 44 hospitals.[320] It is the largest hospital system in Europe. It provides health care, teaching, research, prevention, education and emergency medical service in 52 branches of medicine. The hospitals receive more than 5.8 million annual patient visits.[320]
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