A lower share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 93% of compared French towns, at 8%
5.3% of households rent social housing (HLM), against 12% in the typical compared French town. Biesles is home to 1,342 residents in 630 households, by the 2023 Census. In Biesles, 7.2% of homes are flats. Compared with other places, single-parent households are scarce here: 5.5%, fewer than in 98% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Haute-Marne 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.
A change of −3% since 2012 leaves Biesles behind 81% 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
Against +5% for the median compared French town and −9% for the median Haute-Marne town, the change came in two steps: −2% from 2012 to 2017, then −1% to 2023.
Biesles: 24% of residents are 65 or over, above 61% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Biesles 43.7. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Biesles’s residents are under 43.7, younger than in 53% 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
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Haute-Marne 52.0%, France 51.8%.
Fewer one-person households than 55% of compared French towns: 34%
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 Haute-Marne median and the France median
Living alone · share
A household here holds 2.1 people on average. Across the comparison, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Just over a quarter of households are couples with children, more than in 52% of compared French towns.
A larger share of second homes than 75% of compared French towns: 4.7%
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
Of all households, 8.8% moved in during the last two years and 28% have stayed three decades or more. Elsewhere, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. 7.5% of homes stand empty, a higher share than in 58% of compared French towns. Without a car: one household in 10, against 11% in the median compared French town.
€24,470 a year is the median standard of living here
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.
Half of residents live in households above €24,470 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is lower than in 66% of compared French towns.
Biesles sits below 87% of compared French towns for households headed by a manager or professional (4.8%)
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
Compared with 14% in the typical compared French town, just over one in ten households are headed by a manual worker here. For households headed by a manager or professional, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 9.4%. On the census count, 37% of households are headed by a retired person.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
1.1% of residents are immigrants, below 99% 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 foreign nationals at 0.3%, Biesles is behind 99% of compared French towns on that count. The comparison figure for immigrants is 6.5% 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.
Biesles sits below 80% of compared French towns for single residents (22%)
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
Set against 43% in the typical compared French town, 40% of residents 15 and over are married in Biesles. Single residents: 25% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
22% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, fewer than in 80% of compared French towns
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
19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town, against 22% in Biesles. The usual figure: 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 15th youngest of 41 French towns of 1,342 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.
Villejust is the youngest (37.2); Prayssac the oldest (62.3).
Every neighbor is older than Biesles
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 Biesles
What is the population of Biesles?
1,342 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 3% fewer than in 2012 (1,383).
How old are Biesles’ residents?
The median age is 43.7, younger than 53% of compared French towns. 20% are under 18 and 24% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Biesles?
34, with occasional dwellings: 4.7% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Biesles?
INSEE counts 15 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.1% of residents, and 4 foreign nationals (0.3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Biesles?
€24,470 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.