Insee Focus · January 2023 · n° 286

From rural communities of municipalities to urban metropolitan areas: the great diversity of EPCI with own tax status in France

On January 1^st, 2021, all of the 34,944 French municipalities (excluding Mayotte) were grouped into 1,248 public establishments for intercommunal cooperation (EPCI) with their own tax status and the metropolitan area of Lyon. Among these groupings, 22 were metropolitan areas, 14 were urban communities, 221 were conurbation communities and 992 were communities of municipalities. These are the least populated: the communities of municipalities included 74% of French municipalities, but only one third of the inhabitants. Conversely, 3% of municipalities were part of metropolitan areas where 29% of the population lived. Between 2013 and 2019, the population increased more in metropolitan areas (+0.6% on average per year, compared with +0.4% in all own tax status EPCIs). The population grew less in the communities of municipalities, except in those that are predominantly urban. In metropolitan areas, 18% of dwellings were over-occupied, i.e. twice as much as in conurbation communities and five times more than in communities of municipalities.