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Besançon — UN urban centre

104,127

Besançon: 104,127 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #5,940 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 4391; territory: France (FRA). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 47.2415, 6.0118. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
197596,945Estimate
198092,797Estimate
198591,632Estimate
199092,106Estimate
199596,104Estimate
2000106,823Estimate
2005104,739Estimate
2010103,127Estimate
2015103,797Estimate
2020104,069Estimate
2025104,127Estimate
2030103,734Projection
2035103,507Projection
2040103,204Projection
2045103,045Projection
2050102,549Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

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Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.