Villeneuve-d'Ascq Population and Area (Nord)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Nord)
Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Population and Area
With 63,462 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Villeneuve-d'Ascq is the 90th most populous town in France in 2026 and the 5th most populous in the Nord department, out of 647 communes. It covers 27 km² (4,658th largest area in France, 16th largest in the department), with a population density of 2,311 inhabitants per km², or 21 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 392nd in France for density.
Villeneuve-d'Ascq is located in the Nord department (59), in the Hauts-de-France region (formerly Nord-Pas-de-Calais), where it ranks 7th by population out of 3,782 communes. The most populous town in the Nord department is Lille (240,109 inhabitants); the department is home to 2,645,946 people over 5,743 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Nord department and the regional ranking: largest city in Hauts-de-France.
Towns of similar size in the Nord department: Tourcoing (pop. 99,346), Roubaix (pop. 98,701), Dunkerque (pop. 87,442), Valenciennes (pop. 43,966), Douai (pop. 41,108), Wattrelos (pop. 41,013).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 59009. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Villeneuve-d'Ascq, a new town born of a merger
Villeneuve-d'Ascq was created in 1970 by merging Annappes, Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille, three rural communes chosen to host the new town east of Lille. It is now the fifth most populous town in the Nord department.
A green technology hub
Designed around lakes and vast parks, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is nicknamed the "green technopole": it is home to the Cité Scientifique campus of the University of Lille, several grandes écoles, research centers and the headquarters of major companies, including the Decathlon retail chain. It also has the Stade Pierre-Mauroy and the LaM, a modern art museum renowned for its collection of art brut. Linked to Lille by the world's first VAL automated metro line, opened in 1983, the town grew very rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s before leveling off. Its many green spaces explain its moderate density.