Po analyze the urban riots of 2023 – by far the most serious since those of 2005 – and the political misunderstandings they aroused, it is essential to return to the sources of French territorial malaise. The suburbs that are burning today have much more in common with abandoned towns and villages than is sometimes imagined. Only the political rapprochement of these different disadvantaged territories will make it possible to get out of the current contradictions.
Let’s go back. Between 1900-1910 and 1980-1990, territorial inequalities decreased in France, both from the point of view of differences in gross domestic product [PIB] per capita between departments than inequalities in real estate wealth or average income between municipalities and between departments.
Quite the opposite has happened since the 1980s-1990s (Julia Cagé and Thomas Piketty, A history of political conflict, Threshold, 832 pages, 27 euros). The ratio between the GDP per capita of the five richest and poorest departments, which fell from 3.5 in 1900 to 2.5 in 1985, has thus risen to 3.4 in 2022.
We are witnessing the transition to an unprecedented concentration of GDP within a few departments of Ile-de-France (particularly Paris and Hauts-de-Seine), in connection with the unprecedented expansion of the financial sector and the majors of big business, and to the detriment of provincial industrial centers. This spectacular development has been exacerbated by financial deregulation and trade liberalisation, as well as by public investments giving pride of place to the capital region and the major cities (TGV versus regional trains).
Specific challenges
We find similar changes in terms of inequalities between municipalities. The ratio between the average real estate wealth of the richest and poorest 1% of municipalities has fallen from 10 in 1985 to 16 in 2022. In Vierzon (Cher), in Aubusson (Dig) or in Château-Chinon (Nièvre), the average value of housing is barely 60,000 euros. It exceeds 1.2 million euros in the 7e arrondissement of Paris, as well as in Marnes-la-Coquette (Hauts-de-Seine), Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (Alpes-Maritimes) or Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde (Bouches-du-Rhône).
The ratio between the average income of the richest and poorest 1% of municipalities has increased from 5 in 1990 to more than 8 in 2022. The average income is barely 8,000 to 9,000 euros per year and per inhabitant in Creil (Oise), Grigny (Essonne), Grande-Synthe (North) or Roubaix (North). It reaches 70,000 to 80,000 euros in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), Vésinet (Yvelines) or Touquet (Pas-de-Calais). It even exceeds 100,000 euros per inhabitant (including children!) in the 7e and 8e districts of the capital.
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