A median age of 63.5: Charens is older than 99% of compared French towns
11% of homes are flats, against 30% in the typical compared French town. Households without a car are more common here than in 53% of compared French towns. Charens counted 32 residents and 19 households at the 2023 Census.
Throughout this page, the Drôme 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 Charens
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 27 second homes and occasional dwellings in Charens, 59% of its 46 homes: higher than in 98% of compared French towns. 85% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
An older town
Half of Charens’ residents are under 63.5 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 48% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 3.2% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
67% of Charens’ households are one person: higher than in 99% of compared French towns; 33% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Growing fast
Charens had 26 residents at the 2012 census and 32 in 2023, up 23%: faster growth than in 93% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Charens: 59% of homes are second homes, above 98% 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
Empty homes are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. As a yardstick, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. 22% of households have been in place 30 years or more; 5.6% moved in within the last two years.
From 2012 to 2023, Charens outgrew 93% of compared French towns: +23%
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
Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Drôme town +8%.
Above 99% of compared French towns: 48% 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
■ Charens 63.5. The median compared French town: 44.
In the typical compared French town, 11% of residents are 15 to 24; in Charens, 9.7%. To put it in context, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
35% women, 65% men
About 55 women for every 100 men. Median share of women: Drôme 51.8%, France 51.8%.
Charens: 67% of households are one person living alone, above 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 Drôme median and the France median
Living alone · share
There are 1.7 people in the average household. The comparison figure for one-person households is 35% in the typical compared French town.
67% of households are headed by a retired person, more than in 99% 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
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Only 3.2% of residents are immigrants in Charens
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.
Immigrants make up a share lower than in 80% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Drôme has 6.5%. About one in 31: that is how common foreign nationals are in Charens (3.2%).
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
A smaller share of married residents than 80% of compared French towns: 38%
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
24% of residents 15 and over are single; in the typical compared French town the figure is 25%. Married residents make up 43% in the typical compared French town.
Below 93% of compared French towns: 11% of adults out of school have no qualification
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 30% in the typical compared French town, nearly two in five adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification here. By way of comparison, nearly a fifth of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
The oldest of 41 French towns of 32 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.
At the ends of the range sit Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Charens (63.5), the oldest.
No nearby town is as old as Charens
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 Charens
What is the population of Charens?
32 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 23% more than in 2012 (26).
How old are Charens’ residents?
The median age is 63.5, older than 99% of compared French towns. 9.7% are under 18 and 48% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Charens?
27, with occasional dwellings: 59% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Charens?
INSEE counts 1 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.2% of residents, and 1 foreign nationals (3.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
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.