Partial return of population movements at the end of the lockdown period

According to its estimates built from mobile phone count data, INSEE estimates that 1.4 million residents of mainland France joined their department of residence when the population lockdown measures were put in place on March 17, 2020 (balance of arrivals and departures).

At the end of the lockdown, when movements were still restricted to 100 kilometers (between May 11 and June 2), the population distribution on the territory remained close to that observed during the lockdown. However, there was a partial return of the population outside their place of residence: there were 646,000 more residents of metropolitan France in their department of residence compared to the period before lockdown, whereas they were 1.4 million during the lockdown. In Paris, the containment measures had generated many departures which concerned as much the return of “non-Parisians” to their place of living as the departure of Parisians. At the end of the lockdown period, the population partially returned to Paris, especially during the week, and these were mostly non-Parisians. More generally, weekly movements between urban centers during the week and more rural and coastal departments on weekends increased.