Drôme (; Occitan: Droma; Arpitan: Drôma) is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 524,207 as of 2023.
|graph-pos=bottom
|cols=2
|1791|246,687
|1801|235,357
|1806|253,502
|1821|273,511
|1831|299,556
|1841|311,551
|1851|326,846
|1861|326,684
|1872|320,417
|1881|313,763
|1891|306,419
|1901|297,321
|1911|290,894
|1921|263,509
|1931|267,080
|1936|267,281
|1946|268,233
|1954|275,280
|1962|304,227
|1968 |342891
|1975 |361847
|1982 |389781
|1990 |414072
|1999 |437778
|2007 |473428
|2012 |491334
|2017 |511553
|2023 |524207
Principal towns
The most populous commune, home to about 1/8 of the department's population, is Valence, the prefecture. As of 2023, there are six communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:
{| class=wikitable
! Commune
! Population (2023)
|-
| Valence
| style="text-align: center;" | 64,458
|-
| Montélimar
| style="text-align: center;" | 40,595
|-
| Romans-sur-Isère
| style="text-align: center;" | 33,464
|-
| Bourg-lès-Valence
| style="text-align: center;" | 19,992
|-
| Pierrelatte
| style="text-align: center;" | 13,756
|-
| Portes-lès-Valence
| style="text-align: center;" | 10,477
|}
Economy
Most of the economic activity of the Drôme department is located in the west of the department, along the Rhône valley. This area which contains most of the population of the department, also has accessible transportation, such as the A7 autoroute and the rail routes LGV Rhône-Alpes and LGV Méditerranée. Economic activity in Valence was boosted by the creation of the Valence TGV line in 2001.
Statistics
- Total employment (2004): 158 930 (about 10.6% is self-employed)
- Unemployment rate (2006): 9.9%
- Jobs per sector of activity (2005)
- Agriculture: 6.0%
- Industry: 20.4%
- BTP: 6.8%
- Commerce: 15.0%
- Services: 51.8%
- Qualification of Jobs (1999)
- Farmers: 4.0%
- CEO: 7.8%
- Executives: 9.6%
- Technicians and associate professionals: 23.0%
- Employees: 27.2%
- Labourers: 28.5%
- Average annual salary (2004)
- CEO: €53 113
- Executives: €39 265
- Technicians and associate professionals: €22 927
- Employees: €15 688
- Labourers: €16 344
- Apprentices and labourers : €7 498
Tourism
- The Drôme benefits from an excellent image in the view of tourists. Attendance has grown steadily (+4% between 2006 and 2007), faster than the neighbouring departments of Ardèche and the Vaucluse (+1%).
- Number of overnight stays in 2022: 12.8 million
- The Tourism Committee of the Drôme department's website La Drôme, du Vercors à la Provence received over 44000 visits in 2007, along with a new TV station Drome.tv
Main companies
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Main companies in 2002
! Rank
! Company
! Revenue
! Headquarters
! Activity
|-
| 1 || Imaje|| 231 Million Euros ||Bourg-lès-Valence|| Industrial plant
|-
| 2 || Alain Manoukian || 157 Million Euros ||Tain-l'Hermitage|| Moving company
|-
| 3 || Lafuma || 154 Million Euros ||Anneyron|| Hiking equipment
|-
| 4 || Crouzet Automations || 122 Million Euros ||Valence|| Automation systems
|-
| 5 || Spit || 121 Million Euros ||Bourg-lès-Valence|| Metallic fixation systems
|}
Politics
The president of the Departmental Council is Marie-Pierre Mouton, elected in May 2017.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
!colspan=2| Party || seats
|-
! style="background-color: " |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|Socialist Party ||align="right"| 9
|-
! style="background-color: " |
|Les Republicains ||align="right"| 10
|-
! style="background-color: " |
|Union of Democrats and Independents ||align="right"| 8
|-
! style="background-color: " |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|Miscellaneous Left ||align="right"| 6
|-
! style="background-color: " |
|Miscellaneous Right ||align="right"| 4
|-
! style="background-color: " |
|MoDem ||align="right"| 0
|-
! style="background-color: " |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|The Greens ||align="right"| 0
|-
! style="background-color: " |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|Left Radical Party ||align="right"| 1
|-
! style="background-color: " |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|French Communist Party ||align="right"| 0
|-
|}
Current National Assembly Representatives
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Constituency!!Member!!Party
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Drôme's 1st constituency
| Paul Christophle
| Socialist Party
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| Drôme's 2nd constituency
| Lisette Pollet
|RN
|-
| style="background-color: " |
| Drôme's 3rd constituency
| Marie Pochon
|The Ecologists
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Drôme's 4th constituency
| Thibaut Monnier
| National Rally
|}
Tourism
Sport activities in Drôme include:
- in winter: skiing, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing
- in summer: excursions, mountain biking in the mountainous area
The Drôme River is also a great place to practice canoëing and kayaking. In the spring the water flow allows for rafting. The Saoü Forest is known for its climbing paths.
<gallery>
File:Valence cathedrale 2003-12-10 047.jpg|Valence Cathedral
File:Dielavan.jpg|Lavender fields near Die
File:France Provence Grignan castle château.JPG|Grignan town and castle
File:P1130738 modified.jpg|Ferdinand Cheval's palace
File:Vercors Glandasse.jpg|Vercors Plateau
File:Nougat de Montélimar - 20090704.jpg|Nougat from Montélimar
</gallery>
See also
- Cantons of the Drôme department
- Communes of the Drôme department
- Arrondissements of the Drôme department
- Marie Louis Descorches
- Albert Severin Roche, WW1 Legion of Honour recipient.
References
External links
- Prefecture website
- Departement Council website