France's smallest administrative division — the level that has a mayor and a council. There are around 34,000 of them, ranging from Paris to hamlets with a dozen residents.

What is a legal population?

The official figure INSEE publishes for administrative use, updated on a rolling census cycle. It is what determines a commune's entitlements and obligations, so it is the number that legally counts.

Yes. It comes from geo.api.gouv.fr, the French government's official geography API, sourced from INSEE. Nothing is invented or simulated, and if the source cannot be reached the saver reports that instead of drawing something plausible.

Does it cost anything or need an account?

No. Every screensaver here is free, runs in the browser and needs no sign-up. This one uses a public API that requires no key.

France, By Commune Screensaver

The France, By Commune screensaver ranks the largest French communes by legal population, from the official geography API maintained by the French state. France has more communes than the rest of the European Union combined, most of them villages of a few hundred people. It runs in the browser with nothing to install; press ESC to exit.

How the France, By Commune screensaver works

The saver reads geo.api.gouv.fr, the French government's official geography API, sourced from INSEE.

No account and no key: the request goes straight from your browser, or from this site's own refreshed copy of the feed where the source does not allow browser access.

Values are drawn on a canvas that resizes with the window, so it works on a laptop or a wall display.

If the source is unreachable the saver says so on screen rather than showing stale numbers as though they were current.

A worked example

Sixteen communes ranked by population, each with its département alongside. The tail is so long that the top of the list looks unrepresentative: Paris is over two million, and by the twentieth entry you are already under 150,000. The populations are INSEE's legal populations, the figures used for administrative purposes.

Settings & tips

Accent and Background recolour the display without changing the data.
Add it to a Multi-view grid to watch it alongside other live savers.
Press ESC at any time to leave fullscreen.

Frequently asked questions

What is a commune?: France's smallest administrative division — the level that has a mayor and a council. There are around 34,000 of them, ranging from Paris to hamlets with a dozen residents.
What is a legal population?: The official figure INSEE publishes for administrative use, updated on a rolling census cycle. It is what determines a commune's entitlements and obligations, so it is the number that legally counts.
Is this real data?: Yes. It comes from geo.api.gouv.fr, the French government's official geography API, sourced from INSEE. Nothing is invented or simulated, and if the source cannot be reached the saver reports that instead of drawing something plausible.
Does it cost anything or need an account?: No. Every screensaver here is free, runs in the browser and needs no sign-up. This one uses a public API that requires no key.

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