Older than 99% of compared French towns: half of Arbéost is over 60.9
In the typical compared French town, the share of empty homes is 6.7%; Arbéost has 2.8%. The census found that 5.4% of households have no car locally. Fewer couples with children than in 93% of compared French towns: 14%. At the 2023 Census, 73 people lived locally, in 43 households.
Throughout this page, the Hautes-Pyrénées 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 Arbéost
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 82 second homes and occasional dwellings in Arbéost, 64% of its 130 homes: higher than in 99% 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 ↓
An older town
Half of Arbéost’s residents are under 60.9 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 41% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 7.9% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Arbéost had 90 residents at the 2012 census and 73 in 2023, down 19%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Many people living alone
57% of Arbéost’s households are one person: higher than in 99% of compared French towns; 38% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
64% of homes are second homes, a share 99% of compared French towns don’t reach
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 last two years, 2.7% of households moved in; at the other end, 32% have stayed 30 years or more. Second homes make up 2.1% in the typical compared French town. Compared with other places, flats are scarce here: 2.5%, fewer than in 99% of compared French towns. Car-free households: one in 19, where the median compared French town has 11%.
Slower growth than 99% of compared French towns: Arbéost changed by −19% 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
Over those years, the median Hautes-Pyrénées town changed ±0% and the median compared French town +5%. Between 2012 and 2017 the population moved −6%, then −14% to 2023.
Residents aged 65 and over: 41%, a higher share than 98% 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
■ Arbéost 60.9. 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 Arbéost comes in at 7.9%. Elsewhere, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
40% women, 60% men
About 66 women for every 100 men. Median share of women: Hautes-Pyrénées 53.4%, France 51.8%.
Arbéost: 57% 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 Hautes-Pyrénées median and the France median
Living alone · share
There are 1.7 people in the average household. The usual figure: just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
A larger share of households headed by a retired person than 90% of compared French towns: 43%
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
Households headed by a manager or professional are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. The share of households headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town is 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A smaller share of immigrants than 66% of compared French towns: 4.8%
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.
Set against 4.3% in the typical compared French town, 3.2% of residents are foreign nationals in Arbéost. For immigrants, the comparison 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.
Arbéost ranks above 68% of compared French towns on single residents: 28%
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
Here just over two in five residents 15 and over are married, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 43%. Single residents: 25% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
In Arbéost, 24% of adults out of school have no qualification, more than in 74% 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
In the typical compared French town, the share of graduates of higher education is 30%; Arbéost has 24%. The wider picture: 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 73 to 2,582 people, the 4th 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.
At the ends of the range sit Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Prayssac (62.3), the oldest.
Every neighbor is younger than Arbéost
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 Arbéost
What is the population of Arbéost?
73 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 19% fewer than in 2012 (90).
How old are Arbéost’s residents?
The median age is 60.9, older than 99% of compared French towns. 6.3% are under 18 and 41% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Arbéost?
82, with occasional dwellings: 64% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Arbéost?
INSEE counts 3 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.8% of residents, and 2 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 9, 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.