A median age of 36.6: Linay is younger than 93% of compared French towns
Set against 30% in the typical compared French town, 3.8% of homes are flats in Linay. Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. At the 2023 Census, 220 people lived in the town, in 92 households. Put another way, about one in six: 17% of households are headed by a retired person.
Throughout this page, the Ardennes median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
What stands out about the people of Linay
Fewer residents than in 2012
Linay had 252 residents at the 2012 census and 220 in 2023, down 13%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
A young town
Half of Linay’s residents are under 36.6 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 24% are under 15 and 18% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Slower growth than 99% of compared French towns: Linay changed by −13% since 2012
Residents at INSEE’s last three censuses, each recast in the 2026 commune boundaries. France has no yearly estimate by commune between censuses.
2012 to 2023
2017 to 2023
The median Ardennes town changed −9% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought −1% and the next six −12%.
Linay ranks below 76% of compared French towns on residents aged 65 and over: 18%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Linay 36.6. The median compared French town: 44.
By its share of residents aged 15 to 24 (10%), Linay is below 64% of compared French towns. Measured more widely, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
About 112 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Ardennes 52.2%, France 51.8%.
In Linay, 22% of households are single parents, more than in 99% of compared French towns
A household is everyone who shares a main home (résidence principale). Household types come from INSEE’s fuller sample of a quarter of census forms.
Against the Ardennes median and the France median
Living alone · share
Nearly two in five households are one person living alone (typical compared French town: 35%). Couples with children make up about one in six here (17%). As a reference point, 10% of households are single parents in the typical compared French town.
Empty homes make up 11% in Linay, more than in 84% of compared French towns
Every home the census counted: main residences, second homes and occasional dwellings (INSEE counts them together), and empty homes. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
All homes · share of homes
Type of home
Cars per household · share of households
Households without a car: 7.6%, below 69% of compared French towns. More second homes than in 52% of compared French towns: 2.2%. Measured more widely, 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town. Recent arrivals (under two years) make up 12% of households; long-stayers (30 years or more) 23%.
At the median, €16,220 a year to live on
The standard of living (niveau de vie) is a household’s disposable income after taxes and benefits, divided by its consumption units (UC) to allow for its size and make-up: 1 for the first adult, 0.5 for each other person 14 or older, 0.3 for each child under 14.
Medians of compared communes. Source: INSEE, Filosofi 2023.
The midpoint of living standards here is €16,220 a year per consumption unit, lower than in 99% of compared French towns.
5.6% of households are headed by a manual worker, fewer than in 95% of compared French towns
Households by the socio-professional group (PCS) of their reference person, INSEE’s own categories. Jobs and commuting are on the Work & commute page.
Households by reference person’s group · share of households
Nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town, against 11% in Linay. Households headed by a manual worker make up 14% in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants make up 10% in Linay, more than in 70% of compared French towns
INSEE publishes two measures, which overlap but aren’t the same. Neither is the UK’s “born abroad”.
Share of residents · census 2023
Immigrant (immigré)
Born abroad, not French at birth. Someone stays an immigrant after becoming French. A French citizen born abroad (for example in Algeria before 1962) is not one.
Foreign national (étranger)
Not a French citizen today, wherever born. A child born in France to foreign parents can be a foreign national without being an immigrant.
7.7% of residents are foreign nationals; in the typical compared French town the figure is 4.3%. The share of immigrants in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
In Linay, 47% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 80% of compared French towns
Residents 15 and over by how they live: the census asks both the legal status and whether people live as a couple.
Residents 15 and over · share
Single residents: 28%, above 70% of compared French towns. For married residents, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 43%.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 99% of compared French towns, at 12%
Highest diploma of residents 15 and over who have left education, in French terms: the levels don’t map one-to-one to UK or U.S. ones.
Highest diploma · 15 and over, out of education
Compared with 19% in the typical compared French town, 27% of adults out of school have no qualification here. Set beside that, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The youngest of 41 French towns of 220 to 2,582 people
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Linay (36.6), the oldest Prayssac (62.3).
No nearby town is as young as Linay
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Census 2023. INSEE’s census is a rolling survey: a fifth of small communes each year, 8% of homes in large ones each year. “2023” pools the surveys of 2021 to 2025, so the figures describe the town around 2023, not on one day.
- Medians of compared communes. The comparisons are the median of the département’s compared communes and of France’s (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median: not the total for the département or for France, which large cities pull towards their own figures.
- Immigrants and foreign nationals. INSEE’s two measures: an immigrant was born abroad without French nationality; a foreign national isn’t French today. Neither is a count of people born abroad, which INSEE doesn’t publish by commune.
- Second homes. Homes used for holidays or weekends, with occasional dwellings (kept for work, for example), which INSEE counts together. Their owners are counted where they live, not here.
- Standard of living. INSEE’s Filosofi: disposable income per consumption unit, from tax and benefit files, 2023. The poverty rate is the share of residents below 60% of France’s median. Not published for the smallest communes.
- What France doesn’t ask. The French census asks nothing about ethnicity, religion, language or health, so this page has no such section.
Questions about who lives in Linay
What is the population of Linay?
220 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 13% fewer than in 2012 (252).
How old are Linay’s residents?
The median age is 36.6, younger than 93% of compared French towns. 29% are under 18 and 18% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Linay?
2, with occasional dwellings: 2.2% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Linay?
INSEE counts 22 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 10% of residents, and 17 foreign nationals (7.7%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Linay?
€16,220 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). Source: INSEE, Filosofi.
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, ages, households, homes, marital status, diplomas, immigrants, foreign nationals, employment), 2026 geography · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (standard of living, poverty) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.