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The French Regions and Their Social Health

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Abstract

In this article, a new indicator designed to capture the multidimensionality of the social health of the French regions is put to the test. Drawing on regional data for 2004, this indicator of social health (ISH) sheds new light on the social performance of the French regions. The worst performers are the highly urbanised regions, whereas others, such as Limousin, turn out to perform well in social terms. Two or three regions remain stuck at the bottom of the table regardless of the indicator used. Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Languedoc-Roussillon, which bring up the rear in terms of gross disposable income (GDI) and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, also record very mediocre scores for social health as measured by our ISH.

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Notes

  1. Made up of a battery of 60 variables, the barometer of inequalities and poverty is difficult to regionalize and requires the use of variables that do not all exist at the regional level of observation (see Jany-Catrice and et alii 2007).

  2. In the Nord-Pas de Calais region, the housing survey enjoys the advantage of an extension funded by the Regional Council, which is not the case in all regions.

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Correspondence to Florence Jany-Catrice.

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Jany-Catrice, F. The French Regions and Their Social Health. Soc Indic Res 93, 377–391 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9330-8

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