Stade de Gerland
Lyon is also home to the Lyon Hockey Club, an ice hockey team that competes in
France's national ice hockey league. The Patinoire Charlemagne is the seat of Club
des Sports de Glace de Lyon, the club of Olympic ice dancing champions Marina
Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, and world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier
Shoenfelder.[65] Lyon-Villeurbanne also has a basketball team, ASVEL, that plays at
the Astroballe arena.
Since 2000, Birdy Kids, a group of graffiti artists from the city, has decorated several
random buildings and walls along the Lyon ring road. In 2012, the artist collective
was chosen to represent the city as its cultural ambassadors.[66]
The population of the city (commune) of Lyon proper was 522,250 at the January 2021 census.[15] As of 2011, 14% of its
population was born outside Metropolitan France.[67]
Population of Lyon (commune)
(within 2020 borders)
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1801 101,760 —    1806 114,643 +2.41%1821 149,611 +1.79%1831 182,668 +2.02%1836 198,683 +1.60%
1841 206,670 +0.79%1846 238,466 +2.86%1851 259,220 +1.68%1856 293,743 +2.66%1861 320,326 +1.72%
1866 325,219 +0.30%1872 324,590 −0.03%
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1876 344,513 +1.33%1881 378,581 +1.84%1886 404,172 +1.45%
1891 440,315 +1.78%1896 468,311 +1.25%1901 461,687 −0.29%1906 474,652 +0.56%1911 462,248 −0.53%
1921 462,446 +0.00%1926 463,125 +0.03%1931 463,647 +0.02%1936 463,061 −0.03%
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1946 464,104 +0.02%
1954 475,343 +0.29%1962 535,746 +1.54%1968 527,800 −0.25%1975 456,716 −2.06%1982 413,095 −1.42%
1990 415,487 +0.07%1999 445,452 +0.78%2010 484,344 +0.78%2015 513,275 +1.17%2021 522,250 +0.29%
All figures come from population censuses. Figures from 1911 to 1936 (incl.) are the redressed figures calculated by INSEE tocorrect the overestimated population of Lyon published by the municipal authorities at the time (10,000s of false residents hadbeen added by the municipal authorities to artificially inflate the population figures and remain the 2nd largest city of France
ahead of Marseille).[68] The 1906 figure is the one published by the municipal authorities, probably already inflated, but notcorrected by INSEE because the overestimate was smaller than 10,000.
Source: EHESS[69] and INSEE[15]
The city of Lyon and 58 suburban municipalities have formed since 2015 the Metropolis of Lyon, a directly elected
metropolitan authority now in charge of most urban issues, with a population of 1,424,069 in 2021.[16]
Population of Lyon (metropolis)
(59 communes, within 2020 borders)
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1861 418,515 —    1866 427,522 +0.43%1872 426,552 −0.04%1876 453,540 +1.37%1881 493,778 +1.66%
1886 527,621 +1.47%1891 566,115 +1.46%1896 600,881 +1.21%1901 608,856 +0.26%
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1906 627,073 +0.60%
1911 629,931 +0.09%1921 659,007 +0.45%1926 691,446 +0.97%1931 743,297 +1.46%1936 738,220 −0.14%
1946 746,062 +0.11%1954 790,662 +0.71%1962 947,569 +2.34%
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1968 1,077,794+2.17%1975 1,153,402+0.98%
1982 1,138,718−0.18%1990 1,166,797+0.30%1999 1,199,589+0.31%2010 1,296,166+0.72%2015 1,370,678+1.12%
2021 1,424,069+0.64%
Street art
Demographics