Hérault

**Hérault** () is a department in the region of Occitanie in southern France. It is named after the Hérault river.

The inhabitants of Hérault are known, in French, as *Héraultais* (women: *Héraultaises*).

## History
Hérault was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Aude was formed with part of the old province of Languedoc.

It was divided in four districts: Montpellier, Béziers, Lodève and Saint-Pons, with Montpellier as is capital.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the four districts were changed into four *arrondissements*. On 10 September 1926, the *arrondissements* of Lodève and Saint-Pons were eliminated but on 1 June 1942 Lodève became again an *arrondissement*.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Montpellier is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of . There are an average of 73.4 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in December with 9.2 days and the least precipitation occurring in July with 2.3 days.

The following is a list of the 25 cantons of the **Hérault** department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Agde (3401)
# Béziers-1 (3402)
# Béziers-2 (3403)
# Béziers-3 (3404)
# Cazouls-lès-Béziers (3405)
# Clermont-l'Hérault (3406)
# Le Crès (3407)
# Frontignan (3408)
# Gignac (3409)
# Lattes (3410)
# Lodève (3411)
# Lunel (3412)
# Mauguio (3413)
# Mèze (3414)
# Montpellier-1 (3415)
# Montpellier-2 (3416)
# Montpellier-3 (3417)
# Montpellier-4 (3418)
# Montpellier-5 (3419)
# Montpellier - Castelnau-le-Lez (3420)
# Pézenas (3421)
# Pignan (3422)
# Saint-Gély-du-Fesc (3423)
# Saint-Pons-de-Thomières (3424)
# Sète (3425)

## Demographics
The Hérault department has a population, in 2014, of 1,107,398, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Montpellier, with 700,241 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two *arrondissements*, Béziers and Lodève, have respectively 312,443 and 94,714 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Hérault**

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 bar:1968 text:1968
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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 591397
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 648202
 bar:1982 from:0 till: 706499
 bar:1990 from:0 till: 794603
 bar:1999 from:0 till: 896441
 bar:2008 from:0 till: 1019798
 bar:2014 from:0 till: 1107398

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 bar:1975 at: 648202 fontsize:S text: 648,202 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1982 at: 706499 fontsize:S text: 706,499 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1990 at: 794603 fontsize:S text: 794,603 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 896441 fontsize:S text: 896,441 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2008 at: 1019798 fontsize:S text: 1,019,798 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:2014 at: 1107398 fontsize:S text: 1,107,398 shift:(-22,5)

The *communes* in the department with more of 10,000 inhabitants are:

## Gallery

Hérault River, Agde 09.jpg|The Hérault river at Agde
Rochelongue 282 Montpellier.JPG|*Porte du Peyrou* in Montpellier
CathedraleBeziers.jpg|Béziers cathedral
Roquebrun and Orb River 02.jpg|Roquebrun and Orb river

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Hérault department
* Communes of the Hérault department

## References
## Other websites
* Departamental council website 
* Prefecture website  
* The Hérault Tourist Board