| 1886. | 1896. | 1906. | |
| Paris | 2,294,108 | 2,481,223 | 2,711,931 |
| Lyons | 344,124 | 398,867 | 430,186 |
| Marseilles | 249,938 | 332,515 | 421,116 |
| Bordeaux | 225,281 | 239,806 | 237,707 |
| Lille | 143,135 | 160,723 | 196,624 |
| St Etienne | 103,229 | 120,300 | 130,940 |
| Le Havre | 109,199 | 117,009 | 129,403 |
| Toulouse | 123,040 | 124,187 | 125,856 |
| Roubaix | 89,781 | 113,899 | 119,955 |
| Nantes | 110,638 | 107,137 | 118,244 |
| Rouen | 100,043 | 106,825 | 111,402 |
| Reims | 91,130 | 99,001 | 102,800 |
In the same years the following eighteen towns, now numbering from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, each had:
| 1886. | 1896. | 1906. | |
| Nice | 61,464 | 69,140 | 99,556 |
| Nancy | 69,463 | 83,668 | 98,302 |
| Toulon | 53,941 | 70,843 | 87,997 |
| Amiens | 68,177 | 74,808 | 78,407 |
| Limoges | 56,699 | 64,718 | 75,906 |
| Angers | 65,152 | 69,484 | 73,585 |
| Brest | 59,352 | 64,144 | 71,163 |
| Nîmes | 62,198 | 66,905 | 70,708 |
| Montpellier | 45,930 | 62,717 | 65,983 |
| Dijon | 50,684 | 58,355 | 65,516 |
| Tourcoing | 41,183 | 55,705 | 62,694 |
| Rennes | 52,614 | 57,249 | 62,024 |
| Tours | 51,467 | 56,706 | 61,507 |
| Calais | 52,839 | 50,818 | 59,623 |
| Grenoble | 43,260 | 50,084 | 58,641 |
| Orléans | 51,208 | 56,915 | 57,544 |
| Le Mans | 46,991 | 49,665 | 54,907 |
| Troyes | 44,864 | 50,676 | 51,228 |
Of the population in 1901, 18,916,889 were males and 19,533,899 females, an excess of females over males of 617,010, i.e. 1.6% or about 508 females to every 492 males. In 1881 the proportion was 501 females to every 499 males, since when the disparity has been slightly more marked at every census. Below is a list of the departments in which the number of women to every thousand men was (1) greatest and (2) least.
| (1) | (2) | ||
| Creuse | 1131 | Belfort | 886 |
| Côtes-du-Nord | 1117 | Basses-Alpes | 893 |
| Seine | 1103 | Var | 894 |
| Calvados | 1100 | Meuse | 905 |
| Cantal | 1098 | Hautes-Alpes | 908 |
| Seine-Inférieure | 1084 | Meurthe-et-Moselle | 918 |
| Basses-Pyrénées | 1080 | Haute-Savoie | 947 |
Departments from which the adult males emigrate regularly either to sea or to seek employment in towns tend to fall under the first head, those in which large bodies of troops are stationed under the second.
The annual number of emigrants from France is small. The Basques of Basses-Pyrénées go in considerable numbers to the Argentine Republic, the inhabitants of Basses Alpes to Mexico and the United States, and there are important French colonies in Algeria and Tunisia.
The following table shows the distribution of the active population of France according to their occupations in 1901.
| Occupation. | Males. | Females. | Total. |
| Forestry and agriculture | 5,517,617 | 2,658,952 | 8,176,569 |
| Manufacturing industries | 3,695,213 | 2,124,642 | 5,819,855 |
| Trade | 1,132,621 | 689,999 | 1,822,620 |
| Domestic service | 223,861 | 791,176 | 1,015,037 |
| Transport | 617,849 | 212,794 | 830,643 |
| Public service | 1,157,835 | 139,734 | 1,297,569 |
| Liberal professions | 226,561 | 173,278 | 399,839 |
| Mining, quarries | 261,320 | 5,031 | 266,351 |
| Fishing | 63,372 | 4,400 | 67,772 |
| Unclassed | 14,316 | 4,504 | 18,820 |
| Grand Total | 12,910,565 | 6,804,510 | 19,715,075 |
Religion.