Editing Ardèche (section)

== Demographics ==
Ardèche's inhabitants are called ''Ardéchois''. Emigration from the Ardèche, one of France's poorer districts, long exceeded immigration, but this began to change in the mid-20th century. In 1990, Ardèche reached the population level it had 50 years earlier. Today the population numbers 309,000 (compared to 390,000 in 1860). Despite this demographic recovery, the area remains marked by a rural exodus that minimises the effects of an above-average [[birth rate]]. The rate of natural increase is practically nonexistent, as Ardèche-born inhabitants have an above-average median age and thus also an above-average [[death rate]].{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Ardèche has few foreign-born immigrants, found almost exclusively in the tourist locations of Largentière, Le Pouzin, and Bourg-Saint-Andéol. They number about 11,000, 4% of the population. During the summer, many European tourists visit the Ardèche, principally Dutch and Germans staying at camping sites.

The following table shows population development in the Archèche since 1791.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://splaf.free.fr/07his.html|title=Historique de l'Ardèche|website=Le SPLAF}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4176909?geo=DEP-07|title=Évolution et structure de la population en 2016|publisher=INSEE}}</ref>
{{historical populations|cols=2|align=none|percentages=pagr|graph-pos=bottom
|11=1791|12=289,671|13=1801|14=266,656|15=1806|16=290,801|17=1821|18=304,339|19=1831|20=340,734|21=1841|22=364,416|23=1851|24=386,559|25=1861|26=388,529|27=1872|28=380,277|29=1881|30=376,867|31=1891|32=371,269|33=1901|34=353,564|35=1911|36=331,801|37=1921|38=294,308|39=1931|40=282,911|41=1936|42=272,698|43=1946|44=254,598|45=1954|46=249,077|47=1962|48=248,516|49=1968|50=256,927|51=1975|52=257,065|53=1982|54=267,970|55=1990|56=277,581|57=1999|58=286,023|59=2006|60=305,804|61=2016|62=325,157}}

[[File:Balazuc - Ardèche © by Besenbinder - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Balazuc]] (Latin: ''Baladunum'') was founded circa 3000 BCE.]]
[[File:France Rhone-Alpes Ardeche Aubenas Chateau 01.jpg|thumb|Construction of the Château d'Aubenas began in the 12th century.]]

Some 50% of the population of the department lives in rural communities, compared to a national average of 75% of the French population living in urban areas. The Ardèche has an average population density of 52 per km<sup>2</sup>, compared to 122 per km<sup>2</sup> for the [[Rhône-Alpes]] region and 104 per km<sup>2</sup> in France. Population density is highest in the regions around the two towns of [[Annonay]] and [[Aubenas]] and along the edge of the Rhône valley. The mountainous areas are much less densely populated, with only 6 to 7 inhabitants per km<sup>2</sup> in the cantons of Saint-Étienne-de-Lugdarès and Valgorge. As the mountains and the plateau continue to depopulate, those of the Rhône valley, Bas-Vivarais and lower Ardèche are continuing to grow, but the population situation, whilst better than in the past, still remains an issue for the region.

The Rhône valley and the Annonay region, close to the main axes of communication (highways and the TGV railway), are the department's most urbanised areas. Here the natural growth in population is everywhere positive. Annonay, Tournon-sur-Rhône, and Guilherand-Granges benefit from the proximity of the nearby town of Valence and the economically more advanced department of la Drôme. In the southern interior with the town of Aubenas and the valley of the Ardèche river, the population of the cantons of Villeneuve-de-Berg and of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc grows at four times the speed of the departmental average.

The high plateau and the mountainous areas as far as [[Privas]] continue to lose its young population (the median age of the population as a whole is increasing as a result of the weakness of the power of this region to attract new permanent inhabitants).