The Prime Minister unveiled her “France ruralités” plan, which includes around forty provisions to respond to the specific challenges of the countryside. But why “ruralities” in the plural?
Rurality is an opportunity for our country, this is in any case the message that Elisabeth Borne wanted to convey, this Thursday, during a trip to Vienne. The Prime Minister detailed the axes of the France rurality plan, which includes around forty measures to respond to the specific challenges of the rural world.. Open up rural territories, support municipalities to revitalize territories, and place biodiversity at the heart of the program…“It’s an elected official from the Normandy countryside who tells you, rural areas have everything to succeed”assured Elisabeth Borne.
Ruralities rather than rurality. In this program, the word is plural. And this is no coincidence: the Prime Minister actually designates almost the entire territory. Because of the 35,000 municipalities in mainland France, almost 90% are in the countryside according to INSEE. This represents a third of the population.
France is therefore much more fields and small villages than large city centers. But the majority of the inhabitants are concentrated in the large urban areas. Paris, Lyon and Marseille in the lead.
In the countryside, less unemployment
In terms of employment and socio-professional categories, there are major trends. This obviously depends on the territories, but overall, the more the countryside is said to be “isolated”, the more workers there are. The further one goes into the “urbanized” countryside, the more the number of executives increases.
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But regardless of the profession, rural people are less affected by unemployment than the inhabitants of large cities. As for the differences in income between the richest and the poorest, they are also less marked in rural areas, such as Limousin, than in large urban areas, such as Île-de-France.
It’s not all rosy when you’re green
All is not rosy, however, for the inhabitants of rural areas, they experience many difficulties that urban dwellers encounter much less. Among which: the lack of local shops (20,000 municipalities do not have any), mobility, or even education (five class closures were for example announced this week in Deux-Sèvres), or even the health.
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According tohe Association of Mayors of France (AMF), access to care in the countryside is six times lower than in town. Life expectancy is also shorter (two years for men, one year for women) if you live in a small village, rather than a large metropolis.