Demographics
Le Locle has a population (as of December 2011) of 10,077. As of 2008, 26.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of -2.8%. It has changed at a rate of 0% due to migration and at a rate of -2.2% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (9,264 or 88.0%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (423 or 4.0%) and German is the third (203 or 1.9%). There are 6 people who speak Romansh.
As of 2008, the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. The population was made up of 3,593 Swiss men (35.7% of the population) and 1,354 (13.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 3,949 Swiss women (39.3%) and 1,156 (11.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 3,884 or about 36.9% were born in Le Locle and lived there in 2000. There were 1,882 or 17.9% who were born in the same canton, while 1,576 or 15.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,639 or 25.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.7%.
As of 2000, there were 3,891 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 5,133 married individuals, 867 widows or widowers and 638 individuals who are divorced.
As of 2000, there were 4,713 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 1,787 households that consist of only one person and 229 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 4,584 apartments (81.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 391 apartments (6.9%) were seasonally occupied and 663 apartments (11.8%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 0.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 5.71%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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