Lille (French pronunciation: [lil] ( listen); Dutch: Rijsel) is the largest city in French Flanders. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in France after those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium. It is the capital of the Nord-Pas de Calais region and the prefecture of the Nord department.

The city of Lille, to which the previously independent town of Lomme was annexed on 27 February 2000, had a population of 226,014 as recorded by the 2006 census. However, Lille Métropole, which also includes Roubaix, Tourcoing and numerous suburban communities, had a population of 1,091,438. The eurodistrict of Lille-Kortrijk, which also includes the Belgian cities of Kortrijk, Tournai, Mouscron and Ypres, had 1,905,000 residents.^{[citation needed]}