Insee Analyses · April 2023 · n° 83

A new territorial division into living areas in 2022: 1,700 living areas shape the national territory

Living areas are defined as the smallest territories on which residents have access to the most common facilities and services. In 2022, the national territory is broken down into 1,707 living areas, including 1,256 in rural areas. Nearly a third of the population lives in these rural living areas, which have a less diversified range of facilities than urban living areas. All equipments of the proximity range and most of "intermediate" facilities (schools, supermarkets, bank branches, swimming pools, etc.) can be found in rural living areas, but not as much as for equipments included in the upper range like medical specialities, apprenticeship training centers or unemployment agencies. In non-periurban rural living areas, the number of facilities per inhabitant is higher, especially in tourist areas, but access times are longer.

The evolution of the number of equipments and population are linked. Thus between 2013 and 2020, the peri-urban rural living areas, with strong demographic growth, recorded the highest increase in the number of common equipments. During the same period, this number decreased in 225 living areas, especially in rural areas far from employment centers.