Urban flight

last updated 8 January 2015

Paris

Parisians disgusted by traffic and crime are fleeing the City of Light. Over the past decade, the population of the Paris metropolitan area dropped by nearly half a million, mostly because of people moving to the rural south. One southern district, Lot-et-Garonne, is trying to capitalize on the trend by offering relocation assistance. Lot-et-Garonne officials took out full-page newspaper ads declaring, “You have 15 days to leave Paris,” and thousands of Parisians called the hotline. “In Paris, people are always working, always tense, stressed, and frantic,” said one of the callers, Philippe Ginoux. He now plans to move to Lot-et-Garonne.