An approach to quality of life in territories

Some thirty indicators enable an understanding of quality of life in the regions of Metropolitan France where inhabitants use the most everyday facilities and services. Eight major types of territory can be distinguished: the areas immediately around Paris, some of which are affluent but densely populated with certain inequalities, others to the south-west of Paris, with definite advantages apart from the travel time between home and work; the regional capitals which benefit from substantial and accessible facilities but which present certain social difficulties; the suburbs of the major dynamic regional metropolitan areas, somewhat less affluent than the former but more actively involved in the life of their city; relatively densely populated regions in a somewhat disadvantaged situation, mainly in the north-east and south-east; towns and villages halfway between the Paris Basin and the east of France; areas around the medium-sized towns offering many advantages in the west and south-west; and more or less isolated regions with relatively few towns, outside of the influence of the main clusters.