•    1st urbanized city in France (city population 860 363  inhabitants)

•  The biggest community of towns in France: « Marseille Provence Metropole »
With 1 200 000 inhabitants in 18 towns (Allauch, Carnoux-en-Provence, Carry-le-Rouet, Cassis, Ceyreste, Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, Ensuès-le-Redonne, Gémenos, Gignac-la-Nerthe, La Ciotat, Le Rove, Marignane, Marseille, Plan-de-Cuques, Roquefort-la-Bédoule, Saint-Victoret, Sausset-les-Pins, Sèptèmes-les-Vallons).

•    A world capital of water

Surface :
 240 square kilometers including 100 square kilometers of natural spaces

Coastline :
57 kilometers including 24 kilometers of calanques

Number of days of sunshine  : 320 days per year

Climate

A modern international airport :
- 3rd biggest in France for freight traffic (43 171 tons in 2005) after Paris and Toulouse
- 3rd biggest for passenger traffic (5 859 480 passengers in 2005)

A railroad system in high evolution:
- 200 daily trains
- The hight speed train TGV Méditerranée (Marseille / Paris in 3 hours)
- Refurbishment of the Saint Charles railway station

Marseille port : 1st in France and in the Mediterranean
- 200 regular sea links
- 95,8 million tons of annual traffic
- 1,8 million passengers in 2004
- 360 000 cruisers in 2005

A dense motorway system: 3 highways
- East  (Aix/Lyon)
- North (Fos/Lyon/Montpellier)
- Coastline (Toulon/Nice)

Yachting harbours with a large capacity :
- 14 harbours

A performant transport :
- 2 metro lines
- 85 bus
- Tramway line planning

Car parks in the heart of the city :
- 15 car parks with 9 000 parking spaces

An international dimension :
- 70 consulates and consular representatives

Twinning with 13 cities in the world :
Abidjan, Anvers, Copenhague, Dakar, Gênes, Haïfa, Hambourg, Kobé, Marrakech, Odessa, Le Pirée, Shanghaï, Glasgow.