At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by law No. 2002-276 of ngày 27 tháng 2 năm 2002 [1], the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" which allow, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For municipalities with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these municipalities is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force in ngày 1 tháng 1 năm 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.
