THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE AGING OF F RENCH REGIONAL POPULATIONS - A STUDY ON BRITTANY AND LORRAINE

The object of this paper is to assess the relative contribution of mig ration and natural increase to the ageing of the French population at the regional or local levels. The method is applied to 22 French regio ns on the mainland, and for two of these regions - Brittany and Lorrai ne - also to two sets of local areas defined by the proportions urban. In both regions, migration had a negative effect on the ageing of pop ulations in the main cities and in local areas which have benefited fr om the process of counter-urbanisation, and a positive effect on the a geing of smaller cities. At the regional level, the impact of migratio n, measured in terms of changes in the average age, has always been sm aller than that of natural increase, except in the Ile-de-France regio n which includes the Paris area.