Older than 94% of compared French towns: half of Brettes is over 54.9
Flats are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. Locally, half of households are headed by a retired person. In 2023, the Census found 162 residents in Brettes, living in 74 households. Where 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town, Brettes has 21%.
Throughout this page, the Charente 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 Brettes
One home in nine is a second home
The census counted 13 second homes and occasional dwellings in Brettes, 12% of its 110 homes: higher than in 89% of compared French towns. 100% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Brettes had 198 residents at the 2012 census and 162 in 2023, down 18%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
An older town
Half of Brettes’ residents are under 54.9 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 28% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 10% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Empty homes
The census found 24 homes empty (22%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Brettes sits above 99% of compared French towns for empty homes (22%)
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
In the typical compared French town, just over one in ten households have no car; in Brettes, 8.1%. The comparison figure for empty homes is 6.7% in the typical compared French town. The share of second homes stands at 12%.
Brettes changed by −18% from 2012 to 2023, slower than 99% of compared French towns
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 years 2012 to 2017 brought −12%; 2017 to 2023, −7%. Over the whole period the median compared French town changed +5%, and the median Charente town +1%.
Above 81% of compared French towns: 28% of residents are 65 or over
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Brettes 54.9. The median compared French town: 44.
Against a figure of 11% in the typical compared French town, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 in Brettes comes in at 8.6%. As a reference point, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Charente 52.4%, France 51.8%.
One-person households: 36%, a higher share than 53% 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 Charente median and the France median
Living alone · share
Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. As a yardstick, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. The average household has 2.1 people.
At the median, €19,740 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.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €19,740 a year: lower than in 97% of compared French towns.
7.1% of households are headed by a manual worker, below 90% 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
Set against 9.4% in the typical compared French town, 7.1% of households are headed by a manager or professional in Brettes. The benchmark for households headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town: 14%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
In Brettes, 13% of residents are foreign nationals, more than in 89% 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.
With immigrants at 12%, Brettes is ahead of 79% of compared French towns on that count. The wider picture: 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Brettes: 51% of residents 15 and over are married, above 95% 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: 19% here and 25% in the typical compared French town. As a yardstick, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 96% of compared French towns, at 16%
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
Here 28% of adults out of school have no qualification, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 19%. Across the comparison, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Of 41 French towns its size (162 to 2,582 people), the 7th oldest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Ages run from 37.2 in Villejust to 62.3 in Prayssac.
A younger town than 2 of the 5 around it: Brettes
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 Brettes
What is the population of Brettes?
162 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 18% fewer than in 2012 (198).
How old are Brettes’ residents?
The median age is 54.9, older than 94% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 28% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Brettes?
13, with occasional dwellings: 12% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Brettes?
INSEE counts 20 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 12% of residents, and 21 foreign nationals (13%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Brettes?
€19,740 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 October 30, 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.