| 2nd arrondissement of Paris |
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| The former Paris Bourse, located in the 2nd arrondissement. |
| Location |
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| Paris and its closest suburbs |
| Administration |
| Region |
Île-de-France |
| Department |
Paris |
| Mayor |
Jacques Boutault |
| Statistics |
| Land area¹ |
0.99 km² |
Population²
(July 1, 2005 estimate)
(March 8, 1999 census) |
20,700
19,585 |
| -Density (2005) |
20,867/km² |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries. |
| ² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). |
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  The 2nd arrondissement (2e arrondissement) is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the right bank of the River Seine, the 2nd arrondissement, together with the adjacent 8th and 9th arrondissements, hosts an important business district, centred on the Paris Opéra, which houses the city's densest concentration of business activities. The arondissement contains the former Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and a large number of banking headquarters, as well as a textile district, known as the Sentier, and the Opéra-Comique concert hall.
The 2nd arrondissment is also the home of all of Paris's surviving 19th-century glazed commercial arcades. At the beginning of the 19th century most of the streets of Paris were dark and muddy and lacked sidewalks. A few entrepreneurs copied the success of the Passage des Panoramas and its well-lit, dry and paved pedestrian passageways. By the middle of the 19th century there were about two dozen of these commercial malls, but most of them disappeared as the Paris authorities paved the main streets, added sidewalks and gas street lighting. The commercial survivors are – in addition to the Passage des Panoramas – the Galerie Vivienne, the Passage Choiseul, the Galerie Colbert, the Passage des Princes, the Passage du Grand Cerf, the Passage du Caire, the Passage Lemoine, the Passage Jouffroy, the passage Basfour, the passage du Bourg-L'abbé, and the Passage du Ponceau.
Geography
The 2nd arrondissement is Paris's smallest arrondissement, with a land area of just 0.992 km² (0.383 sq. miles, or 245 acres)
Demographics
The 2nd arrondissement reached its peak of settlement in the years before 1861, although it has only existed in its current shape since the re-organization of Paris in 1860. As of the last census (in 1999), the population was 19,585, while the number of jobs provided there was 61,672 – this despite a land area of only 0.992 km², making it the arrondissement with the densest concentration of commercial activity in the capital, with an average of 62,695 jobs per km².
Historical population
Year
(of French censuses) |
Population |
Density
(inh. per km²) |
| 1861 (peak of population)¹ |
81,609 |
82,267 |
| 1872 |
73,578 |
74,321 |
| 1954 |
41,780 |
44,300 |
| 1962 |
40,864 |
41,194 |
| 1968 |
35,357 |
35,642 |
| 1975 |
26,328 |
26,540 |
| 1982 |
21,203 |
21,374 |
| 1990 |
20,738 |
20,905 |
| 1999 |
19,585 |
19,743 |
| 2005 |
20,700 |
20,867 |
¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the
arrondissement was created in 1860, so we do not have figures before 1861.
Immigration
Place of birth of residents of the 2nd arrondissement in 1999
| Born in Metropolitan France |
Born outside Metropolitan France |
| 71.4% |
28.6% |
Born in
Overseas France |
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ |
EU-15 immigrants² |
Non-EU-15 immigrants |
| 0.8% |
3.8% |
6.1% |
17.9% |
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
² An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. |
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Map
Map of the 2nd arrondissement
Mairie, 8 rue de la Banque
Cityscape
Places of interest in the arrondissement
Main streets and squares
References
- Le Guide du routard 2006: Paris.
- 54 Promenades en Famille. A Paris et en Ile-de-France.
Coordinates: 48°52′09″N, 2°20′26″E
 Communes in the metropolitan area of Paris |
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| Population over 2 million |
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| Population over 75,000 |
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| Population over 50,000 |
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| Population over 25,000 |
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| Population under 25,000 |
1,460 other communes
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