According to the latest INSEE statistics, the vast majority of Parisians were not born in the capital. Here is where they come from.
But who are the Parisians really? Mid-February, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) published an astonishing report entitled “Where were Parisians born?” For the first time, a robust study looks seriously and meticulously on the geographic origins of the inhabitants of the city of Light. According to François Dubujet, one of the authors of this unpublished work based on the national census of 2020, the data collected make it possible to “put figures on the image of social mosaic” associated with Paris.
And if there is indeed a statistic to remember, it is this: more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the capital (70%) were not born there, less than one in three Parisians. A slightly downward trend, since it is the first time that this figure has been under the 30%mark. But these statistics are not incongruous since they are in the average of other major French cities. Except Marseille, where one in two residents is native of the city.
But where do these 70% of Parisians born outside the capital come from? The three regions from which they come the most are Ile-de-France (342,000 Parisians come from it), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (80,000) and New Aquitaine (70,000). “Attractiveness is generally stronger in the departments of the Paris Basin, especially in the south of the Île-de-France region (Loiret and Yonne 2.0%, Nièvre and Indre-et-Loire 1.9%, Eure-et-Loir 1.8%, Marne 1.7%)”, specifies INSE.
Overall and more generally, “non-native” Parisians are from province or overseas territories (29%), as well as abroad (25%). “The diversity of places of birth is a consequence of migratory flows towards and since the capital”, a dense city where 3.2% of the French population resides on 0.01% of the territory.
If the capital does not really “flee” its natives, the latter tend to abandon it at two specific moments of their lives: when they base a family or embark on a career. This departure generally arrives around 30 years old, although it rarely accompanies a great move. Parisians prefer to stay in Ile-de-France in the majority of cases. It was only after 60 years that they took advantage of their retirement to go away from the bustle, with a preference for the province or overseas.