Paris is the capital and largest
city of France. With an official estimated
population of 2,102,650 residents as of 1 January 2023
in an area of more than 105 km2, Paris is the
fourth-largest city in the European Union and the 30th
most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since
the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's
major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture,
fashion, and gastronomy. For its leading role in the
arts and sciences, as well as its early and extensive
system of street lighting. In the 19th century, it
became known as the City of Light.
The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France
region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated
population of 12,271,794 inhabitants on 1 January 2023,
or about 19% of the population of France. Paris is a
major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by
two international airports: Charles de Gaulle Airport
(the third-busiest airport in Europe) and Orly Airport.
Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris
Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily; it is the
second-busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow
Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th-busiest railway station
in the world and the busiest outside Japan, with 262
million passengers in 2015. Paris has one of the most
sustainable transportation systems and is one of only
two cities in the world that received the Sustainable
Transport Award twice.
