As of January 1, 2020, 863,083 people resided in Réunion, according to the count of “legal populations” carried out each year by INSEE. Since 2014, the island's population increases by 0,4% on average per year, a little faster than that of mainland France (+0,3 %). Reunion's population growth is, however, less strong than between 2009 and 2014. The excess of births over deaths is reduced slightly with the aging of the population, and departures from the island have outnumbered arrivals since the mid-2010s. These departures mainly concern young people who will continue their studies in mainland France.. Between 2014 and 2020, the population increased significantly in the North (+0,9% per year). On the other hand, population growth is clearly declining in the East, and to a lesser extent in the South. West, the population decreases very slightly. Within the large Reunion municipalities, the population remains dynamic in Saint-Denis (153 000 habitants), Saint Pierre (83 900 habitants) and the Buffer (80 780 habitants). On the other hand, it decreases slightly in Saint-Paul (104 300 habitants) and in Saint-Benoît (37 000 habitants) and strongly at the Port (32 600 habitants).
