The Monegasques are a minority in their own country, and still the biggest group

There’s one figure about Monaco that changed how I see the place. The Monegasques are the biggest nationality in their own state and, at the same time, only about one in four of the people who live there. Add the crowds who arrive each morning to work and, on a weekday, a Monegasque is almost a rare sight on the pavement. Here’s what they’re called, how many there are and where you’ll actually meet them.

Monegasque, not Monte Carloan

The word is Monegasque, spelt Monégasque in French, and it works as both noun and adjective. It also names the country’s own language, which adds to the confusion when you search for it.

What doesn’t work is anything built on Monte-Carlo. It’s a very common slip, because plenty of people think Monte Carlo is the capital or even the name of the country, and it’s neither. The tourist board goes out of its way to say Monte-Carlo is one district of Monaco, just like Fontvieille or La Condamine. If the country-capital-district muddle interests you, I untangle it in whether Monaco is a country and how it works.

How many Monegasques are there?

According to IMSEE, the Principality’s statistics office, 38,857 people lived in Monaco on 31 December 2025, and 9,333 of them were Monegasque, 24%. Add those living abroad and 9,959 people held Monegasque nationality, with more women than men, 5,389 against 4,570.

The striking part is the split. Monegasques come first, but only just. Behind them are the French with 8,270 and the Italians with 7,559. The British number 3,081, which makes them the fourth-largest group and explains why you’ll catch English accents at the market. It’s a country of foreign neighbours, and you feel it everywhere, from the languages around you to the number plates on parked cars.

On top of the residents come the commuters. The tourist board reckons almost 57,000 people cross in every day, mostly from France and Italy, so on a working day more than 95,000 people fill a territory of 2.08 km². That’s why the early trains from Nice and Menton are packed going the other way from you.

What a Monegasque can’t do

The famous one is the casino. Monegasque citizens aren’t allowed to gamble in their country’s casinos. The rule goes back to Prince Charles III in the 19th century, who wanted to shield his subjects from gambling while the casino was built to draw foreign money into the economy. I find it one of the most revealing rules in the country, a state built partly on gaming that keeps its own people away from the tables.

So the crowd at the tables is, almost by definition, from elsewhere. I go through prices, hours and the dress code in visiting Monte-Carlo Casino.

Where to see the Monegasques’ Monaco

If you want to meet the locals, don’t look on the yachts or around the Casino. Look at their festivals. At Sainte Dévote, on 26 and 27 January, a boat is set alight outside the patron saint’s church. On Saint John’s Eve, 23 June, there are bonfires and dancing in the palace square, and the next day in the Les Moulins district. On 6 December children parade through the old town in traditional costume for Saint Nicholas. Several of these feasts bring out the Palladienne, danced in traditional dress to mandolins. The whole festive year, month by month, is in Monaco’s traditions and festivals.

The big date is 19 November, National Day, with Mass at the cathedral, a parade in the palace square and the whole country dressed in red and white. The Prince attends the Mass, so it’s the day the country and its sovereign appear together, and my plan for the eve and the day itself is in Monaco National Day.

The language not all of them speak

One last detail that knocks down another cliché. Monegasques speak French, the official language, and only some of them speak Monegasque, the country’s own tongue, which the tourist board puts at about 5,000 speakers. State primary schools have had to teach it since 1976, and the rest of the state system since 1988, which to me proves that Monegasque identity is looked after carefully precisely because it’s so small. More in what language is spoken in Monaco.

All this makes me think about Monaco differently. Behind the image of wealth there’s a community of barely nine and a half thousand people keeping their language, their saints and their anthem alive in a country full of people passing through.