Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 square kilometers. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world’s major centers of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, gastronomy, science, and arts. The City of Paris is the center and seat of government of the region and province of Île-de-France, or Paris Region, with an estimated population of 12,997,058 in 2020, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €709 billion. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore and ahead of Zürich, Hong Kong, Oslo, and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on par with Singapore and Hong Kong, in 2018 Text from Wikipedia