INSEE

INSEE is the French abbreviation for the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (French: Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques).

It collects and publishes information on the French economy and French society, carrying out the periodic national census.

INSEE also maintains indicies of inflation, construction costs, etc., that are sometimes used to revalue the charges made under certain contracts.

INSEE codes and numbers

INSEE gives numerical indexing codes to various entities in France:

• INSEE codes (known as COG) are given to various administrative units, notably the French communes (they do not coincide with postcodes). The 'complete' code has 8 digits and 3 spaces within, but there is a popular 'simplified' code with 5 digits and no space within :
  • 2 digits (département) and 3 digits (commune) for the 96 départements of France 'métropolitaine'
  • 3 digits (département or collectivity) and 2 digits (commune) for the Overseas departments, Overseas Territorial Collectivities and Social Security numbers, are given to people.
    Their format is as follows: syymmlllllooo kk, where
  • s is 1 for a male, 2 for a female,
  • yy are the last two digits of the year of birth,
  • mm is the month of birth,
  • lllll is the COG for the location of birth,
  • ooo is an order number to distinguish people being born at the same place in the same year and month.
  • 'kk' is the "control key", equal to 97-(the rest of the number modulo 97).
    There are exceptions for people in particular situations.
• SIREN codes are given to businesses and nonprofit associations, SIRET codes to their establishments and facilities .