Loire (department)

Loire Lêre (Arpitan) Léger (Occitan)
Department of France
Montbrison in 2007
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Loire in France
Coordinates: 45°05′N 04°05′E / 45.083°N 4.083°E / 45.083; 4.083
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Saint-Étienne
Subprefectures	Montbrison Roanne
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Georges Ziegler[1] (LR)
Area 1
• Total	4,781 km2 (1,846 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Total	769,029
• Rank	30th
• Density	160/km2 (420/sq mi)
Demonym	Ligerian (Ligérien)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	42
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	21
Communes	323
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Loire (/lwɑːr/; French pronunciation: [lwaʁ]; Arpitan: Lêre; Occitan: Léger or Leir) is a landlocked département in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France occupying the river Loire's upper reaches. Its prefecture is Saint-Étienne. It had a population of 765,634 in 2019.^[3]

Loire was created in 1793 when the Rhône-et-Loire département was split into two, about three years after it was created in 1790. This was a response to counter-revolutionary activities in Lyon which, by population, was the country's second largest city. By splitting Rhône-et-Loire the government sought to protect the French Revolution from the potential power and influence of counter revolutionary activity in the Lyon region.

The Loire département roughly corresponds to the former province of Forez.

The departmental capitals (prefectures) throughout its history are as follows:^[4]

• Feurs 1793–1795
• Montbrison 1795–1855
• Saint-Étienne since 1855

Loire is part of the current administrative region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the départements of Rhône, Isère, Ardèche, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Allier, and Saône-et-Loire.

The river Loire traverses the department from south to north.

The Loire département is divided into three arrondissements:

• Arrondissement of Montbrison
• Arrondissement of Roanne
• Arrondissement of Saint-Étienne

Parts of the department belong to Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez.

The inhabitants of the département are called Ligériens. The industrial city of Saint-Étienne with its agglomeration contains about half of the inhabitants of the département.^[5]

Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 290,903 —     1806 317,053 +1.74% 1821 343,454 +0.53% 1831 391,216 +1.31% 1841 434,085 +1.05% 1851 472,588 +0.85% 1861 517,603 +0.91% 1872 550,611 +0.56% 1881 599,836 +0.96% 1891 616,227 +0.27% 1901 647,633 +0.50% 1911 640,549 −0.11% 1921 637,130 −0.05%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 664,822 +0.43% 1936 650,226 −0.44% 1946 631,591 −0.29% 1954 654,482 +0.45% 1962 696,348 +0.78% 1968 722,443 +0.62% 1975 742,396 +0.39% 1982 739,521 −0.06% 1990 746,288 +0.11% 1999 728,524 −0.27% 2006 741,269 +0.25% 2011 749,053 +0.21% 2016 761,997 +0.34%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
source:[4][6]

The most populous commune is Saint-Étienne, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:^[3]

The president of the Departmental Council is Georges Ziegler, elected in October 2017.

• 
  Saint-Étienne
• 
  Château de La Roche
• 
  Château de Grangent
• 
  Champdieu
• 
  Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez, one of The Most Beautiful Villages of France

• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• Cantons of the Loire department
• Communes of the Loire department
• Arrondissements of the Loire department
• Loire coal mining basin
• Loire General Council

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Loire Departmental Council website