Paris?(French pronunciation:? [pa?i]?(listen)) is the?capital?and?most populous city?of?France, with an area of 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) and an officially estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019.[1]?Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe’s major centers of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts.

The City of Paris is the center and seat of government of the??le-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2019 population of 12,213,64, or about 18 percent of the population of France.[1]?The larger?Paris metropolitan area?had a population of 12,532,901 in 2015.[2]?The Paris Region had a?GDP?of ?681 billion (US$850 billion) in 2016, accounting for 31 percent of the GDP of France, and was the?5th largest?region by GDP in the world.[3]?According to the?Economist Intelligence Unit?Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second-most expensive city in the world, behind?Singapore?and ahead of?Zurich,?Hong Kong,?Oslo, and?Geneva.[4]