Ruages ranks above 97% of compared French towns on second homes: 43%
Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. The share of households headed by a retired person stands at 64%. The 2023 Census put Ruages’s population at 84, in 50 households. 1% of homes are flats; in the typical compared French town the figure is 30%.
Throughout this page, the Nièvre 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 Ruages
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 43 second homes and occasional dwellings in Ruages, 43% of its 100 homes: higher than in 97% 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 ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Ruages had 112 residents at the 2012 census and 84 in 2023, down 25%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Many people living alone
55% of Ruages’ households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 61% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
An older town
Half of Ruages’ residents are under 53.7 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 27% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 8.2% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Only 7.8% of households have no car in Ruages
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 13 has no car, against 11% in the median compared French town. Empty homes account for 7%.
Slower than most: −25% since 2012, behind 99% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved −17%, and from 2017 to 2023 −10%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Nièvre town −8%.
Ruages is older than 92% of compared French towns: a median age of 53.7
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Ruages 53.7. The median compared French town: 44.
Where 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town, Ruages has 27%. In Ruages, 12% of residents are 15 to 24.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Nièvre 53.7%, France 51.8%.
A larger share of one-person households than 98% of compared French towns: 55%
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 Nièvre median and the France median
Living alone · share
By its share of couples with children (18%), Ruages is below just over four fifths of compared French towns. On single-parent households, Ruages sits lower than nearly two thirds of compared French towns: 9.1%. One-person households: 35% in the typical compared French town, for comparison. Average household size: 1.7 people.
The largest group of households: retired (64%)
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 manual worker are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. The share of households headed by a manager or professional stands at 9.1%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A lower share of immigrants than 98% of compared French towns, at 1.2%
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.
Against a figure of 4.3% in the typical compared French town, the share of foreign nationals in Ruages comes in at 1.2%. Measured more widely, 6.5% of residents are immigrants 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.
Single residents: 29%, a higher share than 75% 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
The share of married residents is 39%, against 43% in the typical compared French town. To put it in context, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 69% of compared French towns, at 25%
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
Adults with no qualification: a fifth of the total. The usual figure: 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 84 to 2,582 people, the 7th 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 Ruages
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 Ruages
What is the population of Ruages?
84 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 25% fewer than in 2012 (112).
How old are Ruages’ residents?
The median age is 53.7, older than 92% of compared French towns. 8.2% are under 18 and 27% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Ruages?
43, with occasional dwellings: 43% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Ruages?
INSEE counts 1 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.2% of residents, and 1 foreign nationals (1.2%). 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.