industrial town, Pas-de-Calais département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais région, northern France, southwest of Lille. It was the chief urban centre of the Pas-de-Calais coal basin. Since the demise of coal mining in the 1980s, a wide range of new industries and services has been developed in Lens. These include companies manufacturing wires and cables, paper, metals, glass, frozen foods, and chemicals, as well as firms specializing in packaging and transport. Lens is also a commercial and administrative centre, and it is the site of a branch of the University of Artois. The town, which was completely destroyed in World War I, was damaged again in World War II. Pop. (1999) town, 36,206; (2004 est.) 35,200.