5.2% of homes are flats, fewer than in 95% of compared French towns
In the typical compared French town, the share of couples with children is 25%; Merlevenez has 31%. 4.4% of households have no car, fewer than in 92% of compared French towns. The 2023 Census put the town’s population at 3,174, in 1,340 households. Census figures put households in social housing at 6.9% here.
Throughout this page, the Morbihan 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.
From 2012 to 2023, 67% of compared French towns grew faster than Merlevenez: +1%
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
From 2012 to 2017 the change was +2%; from 2017 to 2023, −1%. Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Morbihan town +7%.
Older than 62% of compared French towns: half of Merlevenez is over 45.8
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Merlevenez 45.8. The median compared French town: 44.
The figure for residents aged 15 to 24 is 9.8% in Merlevenez and 11% in the typical compared French town. Put another way, about one in five: 21% of residents are 65 or over.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Morbihan 51.6%, France 51.8%.
In Merlevenez, 28% of households are one person living alone, fewer than in 86% 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 Morbihan median and the France median
Living alone · share
The typical household size is 2.4 people. Set beside that, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Single-parent households account for 9.6%.
Empty homes make up 4.6% in Merlevenez, less than in 80% 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
The share of second homes is 3.7%, against 2.1% in the typical compared French town. For empty homes, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.7%. Turnover: 8.2% of households moved in less than two years ago, and 23% have lived in their home 30 years or more.
Median living standard: €26,460 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.
At €26,460 a year per consumption unit, the median standard of living here is higher than in 55% of compared French towns. Residents below the poverty line make up 7.0%.
17% of households are headed by a manual worker, a share 71% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
Where nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town, Merlevenez has 7%. Meanwhile, households headed by a retired person are more common here than in two thirds of compared French towns. The usual figure: 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Merlevenez ranks below 98% of compared French towns on immigrants: 1.3%
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.
The median compared commune in Morbihan has 2.3%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 98% of compared French towns. For immigrants, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.5%. On the census count, 0.5% of residents are foreign nationals.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Single residents: 21%, a lower share than 88% 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
Married residents make up 49%, against 43% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, 25% of residents 15 and over are single.
25% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, below 70% 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
The share of adults with no qualification is 15%, against 19% in the typical compared French town. As a reference point, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Ranked by age, 16th youngest of 41 French towns this size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Thierville-sur-Meuse is the youngest (37.1); Meschers-sur-Gironde the oldest (66.1).
Around Merlevenez, 4 of 6 towns have a higher median age
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 Merlevenez
What is the population of Merlevenez?
3,174 at INSEE’s 2023 census, about the same as in 2012 (3,151).
How old are Merlevenez’s residents?
The median age is 45.8, older than 62% of compared French towns. 23% are under 18 and 21% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Merlevenez?
54, with occasional dwellings: 3.7% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Merlevenez?
INSEE counts 42 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.3% of residents, and 15 foreign nationals (0.5%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Merlevenez?
€26,460 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 7.0% 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 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.