For many people living in France, a nearby boulangerie (bakery) is an essential part of daily life – but exactly how many does the country have, and are they really dying out?
So how many are there in the country?Â
Well the answer is a bit more complicated than you would think.
The figure most often quoted in reports is around 30,000 boulangeries. But according to the latest official figures from France’s national statistics agency, INSEE, there are actually 50,122 bakeries and pastry shops across the country.
So which figure is correct? The answer is both – they’re simply counting different things.
More shops than businesses
The larger figure comes from INSEE’s Base Permanente des Équipements (BPE), an annual inventory of facilities and services available to the public.
Rather than counting companies, the database counts physical locations. If a bakery chain operates five branches, each branch is counted because it is a separate place where customers can buy bread.
That means France, including its overseas territories, had in total 50,122 bakery and pastry shop outlets in the 2025 edition of the database.
By contrast, the smaller figure often quoted by industry organisations generally refers to artisan bakery businesses or bakery enterprises, not individual shops. In other words, one business may own several bakery outlets.
#Outil | Pain au chocolat ou chocolatine, l’Insee ne tranchera pas ce débat mais savez-vous combien de boulangeries compte votre commune ? La réponse (zéro dans 6 communes sur 10) dans la dernière version de la base permanente des équipements. 👉 statistiques-locales.insee.fr#c=indicator&…
— Insee (@insee.fr) 27 July 2026 at 07:11
Is the number growing?
In 2015, there were 30, 491 bakeries total.Â
In 2024, the BPE recorded 50,106 bakeries and 50,122 bakeries in 2025. The latest figures suggest the overall number of bakery outlets has changed very little.Â
This shows an increase of just 16 outlets nationwide, suggesting that the total number of places selling bread has remained broadly stable.
That does not necessarily mean the bakery sector itself is unchanged. Independent artisan bakeries may close while chain bakeries expand, meaning the total number of outlets stays roughly the same even as ownership changes.
Cities are also seeing an increase in boulangeries due to the increasing popularity of sandwiches and other takeaway items for lunch – leading to places that focus less on delicate pastries and more on sandwiches, cookies and meal-deals.
The numbers from INSEE also show that around six in ten communes have no bakery.
However, France has about 34,800 communes, and many are tiny rural villages with fewer than 500 residents. So it’s entirely possible that the vast majority of French people still live within easy reach of one, because most of the communes without bakeries are sparsely populated.
Data from Paris city hall shows that 94 percent of Parisians live within a five-minute walk of a boulangerie.
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