|}

Economy

thumb|upright|Lille's Chamber of Commerce

A former major mechanical, food industry and textile manufacturing centre as well as a retail and finance center, Lille is the largest city of a conurbation, built like a network of cities: Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing and Villeneuve-d'Ascq. The conurbation forms the Métropole Européenne de Lille which is France's fourth-largest urban conglomeration with a 2016 population of over 1.15 million.

Revenues and taxes

For centuries, Lille, a city of merchants, has displayed a wide range of incomes: great wealth and poverty have lived side by side, especially until the end of the 1800s. This contrast was noted by Victor Hugo in 1851 in his poem Les Châtiments: « Caves de Lille ! on meurt sous vos plafonds de pierre ! » ("Cellars of Lille! We die under your stone ceilings!")

Employment

Employment in Lille has switched over half a century from a predominant industry to tertiary activities and services. Services account for 91% of employment in 2006.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; font-size:90%; width:90%; border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%;"

|-

! style=" height:17px;"| Business area

! 1968

! 1975

! 1982

! 1990

! 1999

! 2015

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>Agriculture</small>

| 340

| 240

| 144

| 116

| 175

| 74

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>Industry and construction</small>

| 51,900

| 43,500

| 34,588

| 22,406

| 15,351

| 8,427

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>Tertiary activities</small>

| 91,992

| 103,790

| 107,916

| 114,992

| 122,736

| 149,795

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>Total</small>

| 144,232

| 147,530

| 142,648

| 137,514

| 138,262

| 158,296

|-

| colspan="7" style="font-size:90%;"|Sources of data: INSEE

|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; font-size:90%; width:90%; border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%;"

|-

! style=" width:100px;"|&nbsp;

! colspan="2" |<small>Farmers</small>

! colspan="2" |<small>Businesspersons,<br /> entrepreneurs</small>

! colspan="2" |<small>Upper class</small>

! colspan="2" |<small>Middle class</small>

! colspan="2" |<small>Employees</small>

! colspan="2" |<small>Blue-collar worker</small>

|-

!

! 1968

! 2017

! 1968

! 2017

! 1968

! 2017

! 1968

! 2017

! 1968

! 2017

! 1968

! 2017

|-style="background:#d1e8ff; color:#000;"

! <small>Lille</small>

| 0.1%

| 0.0%

| 7.8%

| 3.6%

| 7.5%

| 29.0%

| 16.7%

| 26.0%

| 33.1%

| 25.0%

| 34.9%

| 13.4%

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>France</small>

| 12.5%

| 1.3%

| 9.9%

| 6.0%

| 5.2%

| 16.3%

| 12.4%

| 24.8%

| 22.5%

| 28.5%

| 37.6%

| 21.5%

|-

| colspan="13" style="font-size:90%;"|Sources of data : <small>INSEE</small>

|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; font-size:90%; width:90%; border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%;"

|-

! style=" height:17px;"|

! 1968

! 1975

! 1982

! 1990

! 1999

! 2007

! 2017

|-style="background:#d1e8ff; color:#000;"

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>Lille</small>

| 2.9%

| 4.6%

| 10.3%

| 14.6%

| 16.9%

| 16.7%

| 19.2%

|-

! style=" height:16px;"|<small>France</small>

| 2.1%

| 3.8%

| 7.4%

| 10.1%

| 11.7%

| 11.5%

| 13.9%

|-

| colspan="8" style="font-size:90%;"|Sources of data : <small>INSEE</small> Its origins are thought to date back to the twelfth century and between two and three million visitors are drawn into the city. It is one of the largest gatherings of France and the largest flea market in Europe.

Many of the roads in the inner city (including much of the old town) are closed and local shops, residents and traders set up stalls in the street. The food of choice during the braderie is Moules frites, or mussels with french fries.

<gallery>

File:NUM19441.jpg|Column of the Goddess

File:La Voix du Nord.jpg|Lille Grand Place. La Voix du Nord (newspaper offices)

File:Lille2013.jpg|Lille Grand Place

file:Lille_Cathedral_exterior_01.JPG|Lille Cathedral

file:Jielbeaumadier theatre sebastopol lille 2007.jpg|Théâtre Sébastopol

file:Jielbeaumadier place du lion d or lille 2008.jpg|Lion d'or square

file:Jielbeaumadier porte de roubaix lille 2005.jpg|Porte de Roubaix

Monument aux Morts et Palais Rihour, Lille (DSCF2443).jpg|Rihour palace

File:Lille synagogue ter.jpg|Lille Synagogue, 1891

file:Christ Church (Lille).JPG|Anglican Christ Church

file:Lille hotels particuliers Négrier.JPG|Hôtels particuliers rue Négrier, Vieux-Lille

</gallery>

Transport

Public transport

alt=Lille metro|left|thumb|upright=0.9|Lille metro

The Métropole Européenne de Lille has a mixed mode public transport system, which is considered one of the most modern in the whole of France. It comprises buses, trams and a driverless light metro system, all of which are operated under the Transpole name. The Lille Metro is a VAL system (véhicule automatique léger = light automated vehicle) that opened on 16 May 1983, becoming the first automatic light metro line in the world. The system has two lines, with a total length of and 60 stations. The tram system consists of two interurban tram lines, connecting central Lille to the nearby communities of Roubaix and Tourcoing, and has 45 stops. Sixty-eight urban bus routes cover the metropolis, 8 of which reach into Belgium.

Railways

thumb|Lille Flandres railway station

Lille is an important junction in the European high-speed rail network. It lies on the Eurostar line to London (80-minute journey). The French TGV network also puts it only 1 hour from Paris and 38 minutes from Brussels and connects it to other major centres in France such as Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse. Lille has two railway stations next to each other: Lille-Europe station (Gare de Lille-Europe), which primarily serves high-speed trains and international services (Eurostar), and Lille-Flandres station (Gare de Lille-Flandres), which primarily serves lower-speed regional trains and regional Belgian trains.

Highways

thumb|right|Lille: motorway network

Five autoroutes pass by Lille, the densest confluence of highways in France after Paris:

  • Autoroute A27: Lille – Tournai – Brussels / Liège – Germany
  • Autoroute A23: Lille – Valenciennes
  • Autoroute A1: Lille – Arras – Paris / Reims – Lyon / Orléans / Le Havre
  • Autoroute A25: Lille – Dunkirk – Calais – England / North Belgium
  • Autoroute A22: Lille – Antwerp – Netherlands

A sixth one—the A24—would have linked Amiens to Lille if built, but the project was rejected several times then abandoned.

Air traffic

Lille Lesquin International Airport is 15 minutes from the city centre by car (11&nbsp;km). In terms of shipping, it ranks fourth, with almost 38,000 tonnes of freight which pass through each year. Its passenger traffic, around 1.2 million in 2010, is modest due to the proximity to Brussels, Charleroi, and Paris-CDG airports. The airport mostly connects other French and European cities (some with low-cost airlines).

Waterways

Port de Lille|thumb

Lille is the third-largest French river port after Paris and Strasbourg. The river Deûle is connected to regional waterways with over of navigable waters. The Deûle connects to Northern Europe via the river Scarpe and the river Scheldt (towards Belgium and the Netherlands), and internationally via the Lys (to Dunkerque and Calais).

Shipping statistics

<!-- Source Port de Lille, via la cci régionale -->

{| class=wikitable

|-

! Year !! 1997 !! 2000 !! 2003

|-

| Millions of tonnes||5.56||6.68||7.30

|-

| By river or sea||8.00%||8.25%||13.33%

|-

| By rail||6.28%||4.13%||2.89%

|-

| By road||85.72%||87.62%||83.78%

|}

Education

With a student population of over 110,000 students within its metropolitan area, Lille is one of the major French student cities.

With roots from 1562 to 1793 as University of Douai (then as Université Impériale in 1808), the State University of Lille was established in Lille in 1854 with Louis Pasteur as the first dean of its Faculty of Sciences. A school of medicine and an engineering school were also established in Lille in 1854 and the University of Lille was united as the association of existing public Faculties in 1896. It was then split into three independent university campuses in 1970: Lille 1 University of Science and Technology, Lille 2 University of Law and Health and Lille 3 Charles de Gaulle University of Humanities, Social sciences, Literature and Arts.

In early 2018, the three universities merged to form the new University of Lille (student enrollment: 70,000). The new university is part of the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France and the European Doctoral College Lille Nord de France.

Further institutions of higher education established or active in Lille include:

right|thumb|[[Arts et Métiers ParisTech]]

  • The Arts et Métiers ParisTech, an engineering graduate school of industrial and mechanical engineering, settled in Lille in 1900. This campus is one of the eight Teaching and Research Center (CER) of the school. Its creation was decided by Pierre-Nicolas Legrand de Lérant.
  • École Centrale de Lille is one of the five Centrale Graduate Schools of engineering in France; it was founded in Lille city in 1854, its graduate engineering education and research center was established as Institut industriel du Nord (IDN) in 1872, in 1968 it moved in a modern campus in Lille suburb.
  • École nationale supérieure de chimie de Lille was established as Institut de chimie de Lille in 1894 supporting chemistry research as followers of Kuhlmann's breakthrough works in Lille.
  • École supérieure de journalisme de Lille, journalism school created in 1924.
  • Skema Business School established in 1892 is ranked among the top business schools in France.
  • École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies settled in Lille in 2009.
  • ESME-Sudria and E-Artsup settled in Lille in 2012.
  • The ESA – École Supérieure des Affaires is a Business Management school established in Lille in 1990.
  • IEP Sciences-Po Lille political studies institute was established in Lille in 1992.
  • The Institut supérieur européen de formation par l'action is also located in Lille.
  • The Institut supérieur européen de gestion group (ISEG Group) established in Lille in 1988.
  • The fashion School MOD'SPE Paris has a campus in Lille.
  • The European Doctoral College Lille Nord de France is headquartered in Lille Metropolis and includes 3,000 PhD Doctorate students supported by university research laboratories.
  • The Université Catholique de Lille was founded in 1875. Today it has law, economics, medicine, physics faculties and schools. Institutions of higher education affiliated with the Catholic University of Lille include:
  • École des hautes études commerciales du nord (EDHEC) founded in 1906. EDHEC's MSc Financial Markets program was ranked #1 worldwide by Financial Times in 2017; making it one of the most prestigious financial study programs globally.
  • École des Hautes études d'ingénieur (HEI) a school of engineering founded in 1885 and offering 10 fields of specialization.
  • Institut catholique d'arts et métiers (ICAM) founded in 1898, ranked 20th among engineering schools, with the specificity of graduating polyvalent engineers.
  • IESEG School of Management founded in 1964 (ranked 17th in the latest Financial Times global ranking of the 90 best masters in management, published on Monday 12 September 2016).

Lille is also site of the University and Polytechnic Federation of Lille (Fédération Universitaire et Polytechnique de Lille), a large private educational university that includes a medical school, business school, law school, etc.

Notable people

The Arts

thumb|140px|Émile Bernard, 1897

thumb|140px|Carolus-Duran, 1879

  • Renée Adorée (1898–1933), actress
  • Alfred-Pierre Agache (1843–1915), academic painter
  • Ernest Joseph Bailly (1753–1823), painter
  • Antoinette Bourignon (1616–1680), a French-Flemish mystic and adventurer.
  • Victor Chocquet (1821–1891), patron of the arts
  • Émile Bernard (1868–1941), neoimpressionist painter
  • Yvonne Chauffin (1905–1995), writer, winner of the 1970 edition of the Prix Breizh
  • Édouard Chimot (d. 1959), artist and illustrator, editor of the Devambez illustrated art-editions
  • Léon Danchin (1887–1938), animal artist and sculptor
  • Alain Decaux (1925–2016), TV presenter, minister, writer, member of the Académie française
  • Pierre De Geyter (1848–1932), textile worker, composed the music of The Internationale in Lille
  • Philippe de Rougemont (1891–1965), painter
  • Désiré Dihau (1833–1909), bassoonist and composer
  • Raoul de Godewaersvelde (1928–1977), singer
  • Gabriel Grovlez (1879–1944), pianist, conductor and composer
  • Pierre Dubreuil (1872–1944), photographer
  • Carolus-Duran (1837–1917), painter.
  • Julien Duvivier (1896–1967), director
  • Yvonne Furneaux (1928–), actress
  • Paul Gachet (1828–1909), doctor known for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh
  • Jacquemart Giélée (13th century), poet
  • Constance Jablonski (born 1991), model
  • Kamini (1980–), rap singer, hits success in 2006 with the "rural-rap" Marly-Gomont
  • Édouard Lalo (1823–1892), composer.
  • Armand Lemay (1873–1963), architect
  • Adélaïde Leroux (born 1982), actress
  • Serge Lutens (born 1942), photographer, make-up artist and fashion designer
  • Phil. Macquet (born 1967), painter
  • Iris Mittenaere (born 1993), model, Miss France 2016, and Miss Universe 2016
  • Philippe Noiret (1930–2006), actor
  • Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, (1736–1788), intellectual and writer
  • (1954-2006), French voice actor
  • Albert Samain (1858–1900), poet.
  • Ana Tijoux (born 1977), rapper and singer whose family originally was from Chile

Politics, military and public service

  • Martine Aubry (1950–), deputy, minister, and Mayor of Lille until March 2025
  • Madeleine Damerment (1917–1944), French Resistance fighter, Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance
  • Pierre Joseph Duhem (1758–1807), physician and Montagnard
  • Louis Faidherbe (1818–1889), general, founder of the city of Dakar and senator
  • Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), general, resistance fighter, President of France
  • Joseph Gratry (1805−1872) theologian and author.
  • Isabella of Hainault (1170–1190), Queen of France as the first wife of King Philip II.
  • Augustin Laurent (1896–1990), minister, deputy, resistance fighter, and Mayor of Lille
  • Achille Liénart (1884–1973), « cardinal des ouvriers »
  • Alain de Lille (), a theologian and poet.
  • Yves de Lille (–unknown), Flemish Capuchin friar and author
  • Pierre Mauroy (1928–2013), deputy, senator, Prime Minister of France, and Mayor of Lille

Science and mathematics

thumb|140px|Bust of Charles Barrois in the Lille Natural History Museum

thumb|140px|Jean Perrin, 1926

  • Charles Barrois (1851–1939), geologist and palaeontologist.
  • Joseph Valentin Boussinesq (1842–1929), mathematician and physicist
  • Albert Calmette (1863–1933) and Camille Guérin (1872–1961), scientists who discovered the antituberculosis vaccine
  • Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (1923–2025), mathematician and physicist
  • Jean Dieudonné (1906–1992), mathematician
  • Paul Hallez (1846–1938), biologist
  • Joseph Kampé de Fériet (1893–1982), researcher on fluid dynamics
  • Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann (1803–1881), chemist professor
  • Gaspard Thémistocle Lestiboudois (1797–1876), naturalist
  • Matthias de l'Obel (1538–1616), physician to King James I of England, scientist
  • Henri Padé (1863–1953), mathematician
  • Paul Painlevé (1863–1933), mathematician and politician
  • Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), micro-biologist
  • Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942), Nobel Prize in physics
  • Henri Béghin (1876-1969), mathematics professor

Sport

  • Maxime Agueh (born 1978), footballer
  • Sanaa Altama (born 1990), footballer
  • Alain Baclet (born 1986), footballer
  • Nabil Bentaleb (born 1994), footballer
  • Ismael Ehui (born 1986), footballer
  • Patrick Francheterre (born 1948), ice hockey player, coach and manager
  • Amandine Henry (born 1989), footballer
  • Gaël Kakuta, footballer
  • Arthur Masuaku (born 1993), footballer
  • Clarck N'Sikulu, footballer
  • Sarah Ousfar (born 1993), basketball player
  • Alassane Pléa, footballer
  • Lucas Pouille, tennis player
  • Alain Raguel (born 1976), footballer
  • Antoine Sibierski (born 1974), footballer
  • Didier Six (born 1954), footballer
  • Philippe Suywens (born 1971), footballer
  • Jerry Vandam, footballer
  • Raphaël Varane (born 1993), footballer
  • Abdellah Zoubir (born 1991), footballer

Media

Local newspapers include Nord éclair and La Voix du Nord.

France's national public television network has a channel that focuses on the local area: France 3 Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Sports

The city's most successful association football club, Lille OSC, currently plays in Ligue 1, the highest level of football in France. The club has won eight major national trophies and regularly features in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. In the 2010–11 season, Lille won the league and cup double. In 2020–21, they won the league and supercup.

Lille's Stade Pierre-Mauroy was the playground for the final stages of the FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

The same venue hosted handball and basketball events at the 2024 Summer Olympics. It was in Lille that the 100th World Esperanto Congress took place, in 2015.

Lille is home to , former and continuously one of France's best lacrosse teams. The team plays its home games at .

Twin towns and sister cities

Lille is twinned with:

  • Buffalo, United States
  • Cologne, Germany
  • Erfurt, Germany
  • Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
  • Haifa, Israel
  • Kharkiv, Ukraine
  • Leeds, England, United Kingdom
  • Liège, Belgium
  • Nablus, Palestine
  • Oujda, Morocco
  • Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Saint-Louis, Senegal
  • Tlemcen, Algeria
  • Turin, Italy
  • Valladolid, Spain
  • Wrocław, Poland

See also

  • Rue Esquermoise
  • Place du Général-de-Gaulle (Lille)
  • Vieux-Lille
  • Lille 3000
  • Compagnie des Canonniers de Lille

References

Sources

  • [https://www.lille.fr] - Official website