Photo: LPLT · CC BY-SA 3.0A median age of 55.6: Douarnenez is older than 95% of compared French towns
The share of couples with children trails 97% of compared French towns: 12%. For Douarnenez, the census puts households headed by a retired person at 47%. 18% of households have no car, more than in 79% of compared French towns. This Finistère town counted 14,068 residents and 7,960 households at the 2023 Census.
Throughout this page, the Finistère 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 Douarnenez
One home in seven is a second home
The census counted 1,510 second homes and occasional dwellings in Douarnenez, 15% of its 10,430 homes: higher than in 91% of compared French towns. 54% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Many people living alone
55% of Douarnenez’s households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 44% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
An older town
Half of Douarnenez’s residents are under 55.6 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 35% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 11% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Douarnenez had 14,747 residents at the 2012 census and 14,068 in 2023, down 5%: slower growth than in 87% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Second homes: 15%, a higher share than 91% 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
One household in six has no car, against 11% in the median compared French town. The usual figure: 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. In Douarnenez, nearly one in ten homes stand empty. Compared with other places, households in social housing are common here: 17%, more than in 70% of compared French towns.
Douarnenez’s population moved −5% on 2012, less than in 87% 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 −6%; 2017 to 2023, +1%.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 94% of compared French towns: 35%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Douarnenez 55.6. The median compared French town: 44.
Where 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town, Douarnenez has 7.6%. Typically, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 85 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Finistère 51.7%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
One-person households make up 55% in Douarnenez, more than in 98% 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 Finistère median and the France median
Living alone · share
Each household has 1.7 people on average. At 8.5%, the share of single-parent households is lower than in 73% of compared French towns. For comparison, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
Median standard of living: €24,530 a year
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 median standard of living in Douarnenez is €24,530 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 66% of compared French towns. 15.0% of residents live below the poverty line INSEE uses.
12% of households are headed by a manual worker, below 67% 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 7.7% in Douarnenez. Households headed by a manual worker: 14% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A smaller share of immigrants than 81% of compared French towns: 3.1%
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.
4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town, against 2% in Douarnenez. The median compared commune in Finistère has 2.4%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 81% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, 6.5% of residents are immigrants.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Douarnenez sits below 81% of compared French towns for married residents (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
Where 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town, Douarnenez has 28%. The benchmark for married residents in the typical compared French town: 43%.
More graduates of higher education than 60% of compared French towns: 33%
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
17% of adults out of school have no qualification, against 19% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, the share of graduates of higher education is 30%.
The oldest of 41 French towns of 13,721 to 14,464 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.
Ages run from 30.2 in Fleury-Mérogis to 55.6 in Douarnenez.
A younger town than 3 of the 6 around it: Douarnenez
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 Douarnenez
What is the population of Douarnenez?
14,068 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 5% fewer than in 2012 (14,747).
How old are Douarnenez’s residents?
The median age is 55.6, older than 95% of compared French towns. 14% are under 18 and 35% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Douarnenez?
1,510, with occasional dwellings: 15% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Douarnenez?
INSEE counts 430 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.1% of residents, and 280 foreign nationals (2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Douarnenez?
€24,530 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 15.0% of residents live below the poverty line. 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.