Cantal

Cantal
Department of France
From top down, left to right: Château de Réghaud in Sénezergues, Rhue River, Truyère River, Cheylade
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Cantal in France
Coordinates: 45°2′N 3°6′E / 45.033°N 3.100°E / 45.033; 3.100
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Aurillac
Subprefectures	Mauriac Saint-Flour
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Bruno Faure[1] (LR)
Area 1
• Total	5,726 km2 (2,211 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Total	144,226
• Rank	98th
• Density	25/km2 (65/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	15
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	15
Communes	246
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Cantal (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃tal] ^ⓘ; Occitan: Cantal or Cantau) is a rural department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (French: Cantaliens / Cantaliennes or Cantalous / Cantaloues). Cantal borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère and Corrèze, in the Massif Central natural region.

Along with neighbouring Lozère and Creuse, Cantal is among the most sparsely populated and geographically isolated departments of France and Aurillac is the departmental capital farthest removed from a major motorway. It had a population of 144,692 in 2019,^[3] making it the country's 98th most populated department. Of the 96 metropolitan departments, it is the fifth least populated.