Like most countries, France produces regular census reports that show who lives in the country and how they are living. Anyone who has been living in France for one year or more can be counted - including foreigners. Smaller communities have the whole population counted, but on a rolling programme over five years, larger places get a count every year, but only eight percent of the population is surveyed. Historic census data is released after 100 years, so if you have French ancestors you can read up about their lives through their census information. Although the counting is done every year, the census itself is only released every five years.

Source: The Local January 15, 2020 10:18 UTC