Courtesy of Wikipedia
Flag adopted 15 Feb 1794

This post is part of a series about genealogy in France. You can read the complete series HERE.

• 1791 was the first population census, but it is rare to find a surviving document from that time.
• The majority of towns and cities have their records dating from 1826 or 1831.
• Census held every five years, except during periods of war
  • 1871 Census was held in 1872 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War.
  • 1916 Census cancelled due to the First World War
  • 1941 Census cancelled due to the Second World War
• The information contained within a Census document has evolved over time:
  • Surname and first name
    • Women might be listed under their maiden name
  • Occupation
    • Those without an occupations will either have the box empty, or will be filled with sp or sans
    • Type of employment (not all)
      • owner or employee (name of employer, if relevant)
  • Marital status
  • Relationship to the head of the household
  • Age, or year of birth
  • Address (from 1851)
  • Nationality and place of birth (not all)
• Census for Paris only exist for the following years: 1926,1931, 1936 and 1946
  • Electoral rolls exist and can be found at the Paris Archives.
• Date of each census can be found written at the bottom of the last page on the census.
• Census records can be found in the department offices for each region and these are often digitised, and go up until 1936.
  • You can do an internet search (Google is probably best)  for the name of the town + “archives departementales” 
  • Not all regions use the same terminology, and these might be found under different names:
    • recensement
    • denombrement
    • recensement de la population
• Most of the census are unindexed, which is OK for a small town or village, but really it is best for you to know where your ancestors lived, the information can be found in birth, marriage and death records.
  • Filae does have several indexed census’ – 1872, 1901-1911
• Enumerators frequently used abbreviations:
  • d for ditto, a wavy line or id (abbreviation for the Latin word of idem, meaning same)