Editing Demographic transition (section)

===France===
France displays real divergences from the standard model of Western demographic evolution. The uniqueness of the French case arises from its specific demographic history, its historic cultural values, and its internal regional dynamics. France's demographic transition was unusual in that the mortality and the natality decreased at the same time, thus there was no demographic boom in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Quand l'Angleterre rattrapait la France|url=https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/population-and-societies/quand-l-angleterre-rattrapait-la-france-en/|journal=Population & Sociétés |date=May 1999 |issue=346 |first1= Jacques |last1=Vallin|first2=Graziella |last2=Caselli |language=fr}}</ref>

France's demographic profile is similar to its European neighbors and to developed countries in general, yet it seems to be staving off the population decline of Western countries. With 62.9 million inhabitants in 2006, it was the second most populous country in the European Union, and it displayed a certain demographic dynamism, with a growth rate of 2.4% between 2000 and 2005, above the European average. More than two-thirds of that growth can be ascribed to a natural increase resulting from high fertility and birth rates. In contrast, France is one of the developed nations whose migratory balance is rather weak, which is an original feature at the European level. Several interrelated reasons account for such singularities, in particular the impact of pro-family policies accompanied by greater unmarried households and out-of-wedlock births. These general demographic trends parallel equally important changes in regional demographics.

Since 1982, the same significant tendencies have occurred throughout mainland France: demographic stagnation in the least-populated rural regions and industrial regions in the northeast, with strong growth in the southwest and along the Atlantic coast, plus dynamism in metropolitan areas. Shifts in population between regions account for most of the differences in growth. The varying demographic evolution regions can be analyzed though the filter of several parameters, including residential facilities, economic growth, and urban dynamism, which yield several distinct regional profiles. The distribution of the French population therefore seems increasingly defined not only by interregional mobility but also by the residential preferences of individual households.

These challenges, linked to configurations of population and the dynamics of distribution, inevitably raise the issue of town and country planning. The most recent census figures show that an outpouring of the urban population means that fewer rural areas are continuing to register a negative migratory flow – two-thirds of rural communities have shown some since 2000. The spatial demographic expansion of large cities amplifies the process of [[Peri-urbanisation|peri-urbanization]] yet is also accompanied by movement of selective residential flow, social selection, and sociospatial segregation based on income.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Guy | last1 = Baudelle | first2 = David | last2 = Olivier | title= Changement Global, Mondialisation et Modèle De Transition Démographique: réflexion sur une exception française parmi les pays développés | journal= Historiens et Géographes | year = 2006 | volume = 98 | issue = 395 | pages = 177–204 | issn = 0046-757X | language = fr}}</ref>