Les évolutions démographiques 1999-2007 de la France métropolitaine : continuités ou ruptures ?

Abstract

Since 2004, France adopted a new census method. So, comparing the population of France in 1999 and in 2007 is not pertinent because the figures were calculated according to different census methods. In order to better interpret the population evolution of France, it is necessary to adopt a method of population rectification. This latter shows that there is a difference of 420 000 inhabitants between the two census, that can be explained very easily by the bad quality of 1999 census. What are the results at different geographical scales ? Concerning the all country, France’s population is growing at the same rate in the 2000’s than in the 1990’s, whereas the official figures show an increasing of population growth. So, France population is not booming. At the regional scale, the trends are also the same than in the previous decade : the south and the west are growing, whereas the north-east is relatively stagnating. At the “department” scale, the 1990’s trends are accentuated : the growth being more and more higher on Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, in departments near big metropolis, especially Toulouse, and in sunny and “beautiful” southern rural places. In conclusion, continuity is the rule. The last demographic rupture remains the end of baby boom in 1975.

Keywords

• census
• coastal attraction
• continuity
• natural growth
• vacancy