 The current policy of the municipality is to build new housing to attract new residents with the goal of exceeding 200,000 inhabitants, a level that was reached in the 1960s.The population of the commune of Le Havre was 191,000 inhabitants in 1999 which placed the city at 12th place among the most populated cities in France and in the first place in Normandy.In 2009 INSEE counted 177,259 people lived in the commune of Le Havre while the urban area of Le Havre had 242,474 people (25th place nationally) and the Metropolitan area of Havre had 293,361 inhabitants.