Insee Analyses · April 2023 · n° 81

Health crisis and rise in telework: more departures from the centres of the major metropolitan areas and from Paris area

Several indicators covering part of recent residence changes suggested increasing population movements towards already attractive regions. The successive restrictions resulting from the health crisis and the development of teleworking may have changed the relationship of households to their home. Compared to their surrounding suburbs, the yearly relative population transfer balances of the centres of large metropolitan areas (including Paris), which were already negative before the pandemic, kept deteriorating after 2020. Similar trends were observed between large to relatively smaller size areas. Although these migratory movements were, by large, the outcome of the natural evolution of residential choices through the household life (entry into higher education, retirement), the intensification of the trends may suggest a change in behaviour, particularly among workers with young children.