In 2019, Corrèze had a population of 240,073,[3] divided among 279 communes. Its inhabitants are called Corréziens (masculine) and Corréziennes (feminine). Its INSEE and postal code is 19.
Geography
The department makes up of most of Lower Limousin and owes its name to the Corrèze river whose entire course flows through the centre, and passes through the two main cities, Tulle and Brive-la-Gaillarde. Tulle is the prefecture of Corrèze, and Brive-la-Gaillarde the largest city.
Location
Since 2015, the department is administered by the Nouvelle-Aquitaineregion. To the north, it borders the departments of Haute-Vienne and the Creuse, to the east, the departments of Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal, to the south of that of the Lot and, finally, to the west of that of the Dordogne.
Geology and relief
Located west of the Massif Central, it consists of three zones: the Mountains (Montagne), the plateaus and the Brive Basin.
The department is crossed by several rivers, such as Vézère, Corrèze or the Dordogne.
Climate
The department transitions between the Aquitaine and the Massif Central, the Corrèze department sees its elevation gradually rise from the basin of Brive to the Plateau de Millevaches, watershed of the Atlantic facade. This relief explains the wide variety of climates of Corrèze.
Principal towns
The most populous commune is Brive-la-Gaillarde; the prefecture Tulle is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 4,000 inhabitants:[3]
Corrèze is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It includes part of the former province of Limousin (the Bas-Limousin).
Within Corrèze the nineteenth-century railway planners, influenced in part by the department's topography, endowed Brive-la-Gaillarde with good connections and a major junction from which railway lines fanned out in six different directions. The railways arrived in 1860, at an opportune moment, directly after phylloxera had destroyed the local wine industry. The new railways enabled the farms in the area surrounding Brive to specialise in fruits and vegetables which they could now transport rapidly to the larger population centres of central and southern France. Locally, the new agriculture triggered the development, in the Brive basin, of related businesses and industries such as the manufacture of jams and liquors, as well as timber/paper-based packaging businesses.
Demographics
The 1851 census recorded a population of 320,866: this remained relatively constant for the rest of the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, however, Corrèze shared the experience of many of the country's rural departments as the population fell steadily.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1791
269,767
—
1801
243,654
−1.01%
1806
254,233
+0.85%
1821
273,418
+0.49%
1831
294,834
+0.76%
1841
306,480
+0.39%
1851
320,864
+0.46%
1861
310,118
−0.34%
1872
302,746
−0.22%
1881
317,066
+0.51%
1891
328,151
+0.34%
1901
318,422
−0.30%
1911
309,673
−0.28%
1921
273,808
−1.22%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1931
264,129
−0.36%
1936
262,743
−0.11%
1946
254,574
−0.32%
1954
242,798
−0.59%
1962
237,926
−0.25%
1968
237,858
−0.00%
1975
240,363
+0.15%
1982
241,448
+0.06%
1990
237,908
−0.18%
1999
232,576
−0.25%
2006
240,363
+0.47%
2011
242,454
+0.17%
2016
241,535
−0.08%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
The President of the General Council was François Hollande of the Socialist Party until 2012 when he was elected President of the Republic. Jacques Chirac also served as a Deputy of the National Assembly from here for many years.
In 1879 Adolphe Clément-Bayard built an iron smelter in Tulle to supply his Parisian cycle manufacturing business, but he did not have sufficient finance to make it viable.
Valérie Pécresse (1967– ), politician, former Minister of Higher Education and Research (2007–2011), former Minister of the Budget and Government's Spokeswoman (2011–2012)
