According to estimates from INSEE for 2010, Cherbourg-Octeville has 38,433 inhabitants. The agglomeration was 84,814 inhabitants and the urban area 117,381 inhabitants. It is the largest city of the Manche department, and second of Lower Normandy (after Caen), surpassing Alençon, which had been second before the amalgamation. Cherbourg concentrated 7.7% of the provincial population, twice as much as the prefecture, Saint-Lô, while the agglomeration represents 17% and the urban area 23.5%. The depopulation of the city-centre of the agglomeration was one of the main topics of the campaign for the municipal elections of 2008. In addition to the battle of figures on the number of lost inhabitants, the three candidates, Bernard Cazeneuve (PS), Jean Lemière (UMP) and Hervé Corbin (dissident UMP) indicated a new interest in this problem. The urbanisation of the Grimesnil/Monturbet zone, provided for the coming years, should logically bring extra population, although no one knows if it will be enough to stop the demographic bleeding. Demographic changes of Cherbourg and Octeville compared, before their merger. Today, the neighbouring communes of the metropolitan area (Martinvast, Nouainville, Tonneville, Bretteville, etc.) are experiencing a demographic boost: The framework of life, rural and peaceful, in no way prevents the inhabitants from taking advantage of the infrastructure of the urban community. This problem, which is found in many French towns of this size, has led to the constitution of a , the urban community who wish to so participate financially in the rich and the . Since the merger between Cherbourg and Octeville, in February 2000, the inhabitants are officially called "Cherbourgeois-Octevillais". Before, the inhabitants of Cherbourg was called the "Cherbourgeois" and those of Octeville were the "Octevillais". It is likely that, with the merger, the latter disappears gradually in favour of "Cherbourgeois". This would be similar to "Équeurdrevillais" (or sometimes "Équeurdrais") for the nearby of Équeurdreville-Hainneville, which merged communes in 1965. Cherbourg and Octeville have two different profiles. The first is the city centre, with varied habitat, the other a commune in suburbs, built quickly from the 1960s.