Ardèche is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019. Its largest cities are Aubenas, Annonay, Guilherand-Granges, Tournon-sur-Rhône and Privas. Its prefecture is in Privas, but its largest city is Annonay.

The inhabitants of the department are called Ardéchois. As one of the poorer districts in France, emigration from the Ardèche outnumbered immigrants for a long time, although this situation has recently changed. In 1990, Ardèche reached once again the population level it had 50 years earlier. Today, the population numbers 309,000 (compared to 390,000 in 1860). Despite this demographic recovery, the area remains marked by a rural exodus which minimises the effects of a higher than average birth rate. Despite this, the rate of natural increase is practically non-existent, as the Ardèche also has a higher than average median age amongst Ardèche born inhabitants, and thus also a higher than average death rate.

Ardèche has a low population of foreign born immigrants, found almost exclusively in the tourist locations of Largentière, Le Pouzin and Bourg-Saint-Andéol. They number about 11,000, representing a full 4% of the population. During the summer months, many European tourists visit the Ardèche, principally Dutch and Germans staying at camping sites.

Some 50% of the population of the department lives in rural communities, compared to a national average of 75% of the French population living in urban locations. Population density is highest in the regions around the two towns of Annonay and Aubenas and along the edge of the Rhône valley. The mountainous areas is much less densely populated. As the mountains and the plateau continue to depopulate, those of the Rhône valley, Bas-Vivarais and lower Ardèche are continuing to grow, but the population situation, whilst better than in the past, still remains an issue for the region.

The Rhône valley and the Annonay region, close to the main axes of communication, (Highways and the TGV railway) are the most urbanised areas of the department. Here the natural growth in population is everywhere positive. Annonay, Tournon-sur-Rhône and Guilherand-Granges benefit from the proximity of the nearby town of Valence and the economically more advanced department of la Drôme. In the southern interior with the town of Aubenas and the valley of the Ardèche river, the population of the cantons of Villeneuve-de-Berg and of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc grow at four times the speed of the departmental average.

The high plateau and the mountainous areas as far as Privas continue to lose its young population (the median age of the population as a whole is growing more elderly as a result of the weakness of the power of this region to attract new permanent inhabitants). For example, le Cheylard and Lamastre have recently lost 300 and 250 inhabitants respectively.

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