Segregation between the richest and poorest populations has increased in most major French cities between 2004 and 2019, reveals an INSEE study published on Wednesday January 11.
For this study, the National Institute of Statistics classified the inhabitants of around fifty towns according to their income category (from the richest 20% to the poorest 20%), then looked to see if the inhabitants of the same category lived in the same neighborhoods.
Social diversity in housing, a winning bet
“Of the 50 cities studied between 2004 and 2019, the segregation index increases in more than 30 of them”note the authors of the study, while it decreases in 15 other cities.
Disparities that are not linked to the size of cities
The details of the cities where this index, known as “de Theil”, is rising or falling, have not been disclosed. But the study shows that Marseille, Lille, Rouen, Tours, Angers, Mulhouse, Nîmes, Le Havre, Avignon, Limoges and Poitiers are among the least mixed cities.
Conversely, it is in Grenoble, Nice, Saint-Etienne, Cannes, Lens, Annecy, Pau, Bayonne, Quimper, Lorient and Saint-Pierre de La Réunion that the two populations are the most mixed.
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“These spatial disparities are not related to population size or density”notes INSEE, noting that we find large cities as well as small towns among the good and the bad students.
Less diversity in priority neighborhoods
The higher the income inequalities are in a city, the greater the risk of segregation there, notes however the INSEE.
The populations most concentrated in the same neighborhoods are those located at the extremes of the income scale: the richest 20% and the poorest 20%.
Cities where segregation is strong have a higher rate of social housing, notes Insee, a fact that “could be partly explained by the concentration of social housing in large housing estates built in the 1960s”.
The mix has also declined in the priority neighborhoods, which increasingly concentrate the modest categories and are home to fewer and fewer wealthy families.
