Contenu du sommaire : Populations insulaires

The research presented here draws on both work carried out in the 1990s and new data updated by the latest census, in an attempt to analyze the diversity of socio-demographic trajectories on the Ponant islands. The aim is to understand the driving forces behind the upheavals in these territories, studied by Françoise Péron [1993, 2005] and Louis Brigand [1983, 2002], as a result of the socio-demographic transformations and ways of living that have taken place since then. Coastal areas, and islands in particular, have seen their populations change dramatically in recent decades: strong attractiveness, new seasonal patterns, intermittent living, spatial competition between activities, new demographic (dis)balances, as well as challenges linked to access to housing, social and inter-generational diversity, and so on. These are all factors that are upsetting territorial balances and reshaping island societies, as reflected in the emergence of residents' collectives and mobilizations committed to maintaining island populations in these territories under pressure.

Greece includes many inhabited islands. Their populations have exceptional cultural, political, economic and social characteristics. Within this environment, the research question in this paper relates to the recent demographic transition occurring in these areas to identify the existing diversity and possible convergences and divergences over time. After using several variables describing population structure, rhythms of population change, fertility and mortality, each insular population was compared with the national one. Results indicate some convergences between the populations studied, even though the majority of the insular populations remain distant from the national one. More specifically, there seems to be a ‘dividend' in the insular space in Greece. The southern parts are characterized by younger populations, i.e. Zakynthos in the Ionian islands, along with Cyclades, the Dodecanese and three out of four departments in Crete (Chania, Rethymni and Irakleio). These areas also exhibit relatively high Natural Increase Rates and some of these departments (Zakynthos and the Cretan departments) are characterized by relatively elevated Total Fertility Rates. Concerning mortality schemes, many insular departments exhibit higher life expectancies than the country level (due to dietary habits, lifestyle etc.). The highest male life expectancies are recorded in Cyclades and Kefalonia, while the highest female life expectancies are observed in Cyclades, Kefalonia, Lefkada, Samos and several departments in Crete. The role of migration and refugee schemes in the demographic developments, as well as the small population sizes, have received special attention in the present paper. Last but not least, it has been underlined that military and university campuses are crucial regarding the evolution of population structures in Greek islands.Another scope of the present paper, apart from presenting findings about Greece and its insular space, was to provide some ideas for future demographic research at country and departmental level in Greece. Demographic analysis at sub-national levels shall be avoided before 1991 due to the fact that De Facto and not Resident population sizes are recorded in the 1980-1990 period. COVID-19 has influenced marriage, fertility and mortality in the 2020-2022 period. Additionally, in the 2010s and the early 2020s it became evident that there are different sub-populations in the country with diverse fertility behaviours (most Greeks are having few children at elevated ages, while immigrants, refugees and other groups, e.g. Romani people are creating much larger families at lower ages). Finally, out-of wedlock fertility schemes are gradually changing since the mid-2000s, but at a very fast pace in the 2010s and mainly in the 2019-2022 period. The aforementioned developments at country level probably exhibit differences at sub-national levels. To reiterate, the population of Greece and some of its islands is ageing at a fast pace and shrinking since 2011. These tendencies will probably continue in the 2020s, the 2030s and the 2040s, unless significantly positive migration balances alter these trends and appropriate policy measures are employed. These policies have to be based on robust scientific findings about the history and prospects of the populations inhabiting Greece's mainland and insular space.

The two Spanish archipelagos, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, currently constitute the two autonomous communities with the highest population growth in Spain. The projection for the immediate future is that their upward trend will continue. This growth dynamic began to be seen since both territories specialized their economic activity in tourism in the last decades of the last century. In recent years, the number of tourist arrivals has not stopped growing, especially since Spain became the second largest destination in the world. The objective of this article is to analyse from a comparative perspective how the tourist explosion of recent years has coexisted with a population growth based especially on a positive migratory balance. Beyond the contrast between the island areas and mainland Spain, attention is also paid to the differences within each archipelago.

The intensity of migratory processes has been a characteristic common to many of the Earth's island spaces which, throughout history, have been projected outwards thanks to the special connectivity that originated the voyages of colonization and, later, the processes of globalization of capitalism, among which tourist activity has had a special impact. All this has forged close relations between the island populations and other peoples in distant places, as can be seen in the case of the Canary Islands, an archipelago that has maintained a clear Atlantic vocation throughout its history.Thus, one of the chapters of the history of this archipelago that has aroused the most attention from geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians is that of the migration attraction towards Latin America and the Caribbean countries, the main destination of emigrants from the Canary Archipelago in the colonial period and during stages of economic crisis in Spain from the 19th to the 21st centuries. That lure has forged peculiar relationships that, conversely, have contributed to a significant immigration from those regions during the phases of economic prosperity of the Archipelago, at the beginning of the 21st century, and some years before and after the pandemic. This has turned the Canary Islands into a meeting point between both Atlantic shores.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the demographic and migratory dynamics in the Portuguese island regions of Madeira and the Azores over the last two decades. The article begins with a brief overview of the historical and geographical context, which is essential for understanding the factors that shape population evolution and are reflected in the current situation. Beyond physical constraints such as insularity, it is important to highlight the significant historical influence of emigration in these regions and its relationship with the development of the islands over time.There have been significant changes in population growth patterns from 2001 to 2021, with a decrease in natural growth and an increased importance of migration for demographic evolution. In particular, emigration emerges as a response to economic vulnerability, playing a crucial role in moments of crisis, such as the recession of 2011-2013.Traditionally areas of emigration, the islands have experienced an increase in the proportion of foreign population, a phenomenon that reflects changes in migratory trends, particularly in Madeira, which receives a significant proportion of people from abroad.From a demographic point of view, the islands face the challenge of an ageing population, although they still have a younger demographic structure than the mainland. However, despite these changes, vulnerability persists, as reflected in indicators such as life expectancy.

In a comparative geohistorical approach, the settlements of Greenland and Iceland are examined since their human occupation. This examination highlights the resilience of these island societies in the context of the current climate change crisis, exacerbated at high latitudes. At first glance, there are similarities between the settlements of these two territories: uninhabitable central spaces, Norse colonisation, and more recently urbanisation and metropolisation. However, there are differences in the way these key processes have been carried out. The author argues that these are rooted in the history of settlement and still affect resilience of both societies today.

Migrations and mobilities constitute one of the major lenses through which island territories can be understood, often highlighting either the relative isolation of their populations or, on the contrary, remarkable and unique population movements given the territory's isolation. Corsica is no exception, and here we aim to revisit how migrations flows have evolved over a wide-ranging period (from the 20th century to the present) and how they diverge from or converge (in direction, scale, distance) with migration trajectories observed in mainland France. Based on its current demographic characteristics, Corsica is clearly in a class of its own among the French regions. Since the early 2010s, it has been the metropolitan region with the strongest population growth (around 1% per year), which is explained exclusively by its apparent migratory balance, notably due to low levels of departures.The purpose of this article is to understand what may or may not be specific to Corsica in the spatio-temporal analysis of its inhabitants' life trajectories, relying on individual data that are still rarely used for France, namely nominative individual-relative data of deceased persons since 1970 (more than 27 million deaths up to 2023).The analysis of birthplace-deathplace trajectories indeed reveals a relative Corsican singularity for some indicators (increase in the proportion of individuals who died in their department of birth, lengthening of trajectories outside the island but shortening of trajectories within the island). Without neglecting the effects of the increasing medicalisation at the beginning and end of life, leading to a spatial concentration of birthplaces and deathplaces for the whole French territory, insularity appears as a misleading argument, at least insufficient to explain the specific features of the corsican's spatial trajectories. These are more the result of long-term processes such as the retention of the island's native population combined with the massive arrival of people from outside, or the increasing polarisation of the island territory by the conurbations of Ajaccio and Bastia.

Islands, marked by remoteness and low economic diversity, have a unique demographic dynamic. Their relationship with the mainland is evolving, and recent demographic changes are deeply altering their territorial connections, exacerbating their geographical and social marginality.This article aims to study the relationship between daily mobility and residential mobility in this complex insular context. Our analysis first focuses on the residential mobility of populations toward metropolitan French island contexts, then on the specificities of daily mobility for islanders, and finally on the links that underlie the relationship between daily and residential mobility.These analyses reveal a dual logic of constraint: daily mobility, heavily conditioned by the geographical situation of islands, leads certain population categories to relocate towards metropolitan areas and large ports. Thus, for reasons related to employment, education, and changes in family structure, migrations toward the mainland are observed, sometimes making the return journey difficult.

Because of its geographical isolation, an island is less subject to the genetic mixing that occurs naturally in each generation through marriages and births within a population. Two methods can be used to assess this mixing: the study of surnames and exogamy based on genealogy. The study of surnames, based on birth registers, makes it possible to track the genetic flow of Y chromosomes directly, by observing the appearance of new surnames and the disappearance of existing ones.By analyzing the proportion of exogamous men and women, i.e. from an outside town, we can calculate, from marriage and birth registers, the evolution of autosomal and allosomal gene rates introduced into a given town over the centuries.In both cases, the effect of exogamy decreases as the size of the town increases.A comparison of the three largest islands in North Finistère - Ouessant, Ile-de-Batz and Ile-Molène - with three towns of equivalent populations, confirms that female exogamy is lower than male exogamy, which in turn is significantly lower than that of men and women on the mainland, which are comparable.The evolution of the rate of external genes on each island and each town, which is directly dependent on it, confirms this trend. On the other hand, the rate of new surnames is comparable between islands and mainland towns. This is due to the migration distances of new arrivals, which are much higher on the islands than in the mainland towns. Finally, although there is little difference in the mixing of male gene between the islands and the mainland, the mixing of non-sexual genes and X genes is very likely to be lower on the islands than on the mainland.

This article explores the relationship between intra-regional residential mobility and emigration from Corsica and Martinique to mainland France. While international emigration is sometimes preceded by migration within the national territory [King et al., 1997; Wong, 2000; Bakewell and Jónsson, 2011], this study focuses on the articulation of these two forms of mobility in island contexts. Using data from the 2019 population census and 55 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2023 and 2024, both on the islands concerned and, on the mainland, the analysis shows that, although the barriers to emigration are higher from Martinique than from Corsica, Martinique is one of the regions most affected by emigration, while Corsica is little affected. Paradoxically, these two regions have in common a low rate of local residential mobility. This can be explained by geographical factors, such as the small size of the region, and by a socio-economic structure characterised by a population that is older and poorer than the national average. While these findings might suggest that there is no link between internal mobility and emigration in Martinique and Corsica, the article highlights the complex relationships between these two forms of movement. These interactions may be substitutive, catalytic, alternating or preliminary in nature. The dynamics thus revealed highlight the complexity of mobility trajectories in these island contexts, offering a nuanced perspective on how individuals navigate between local mobility and emigration.

For some geographers, isolation and insularity are linked, so transport systems must compensate for the effects of insularity. Under these conditions, can transport systems open a new path to understanding insularity? How can they help us approach this? The objective of the study aims to lay the foundations of an insularity index considering inter-island transport systems for archipelagic spaces. To provide food for thought, New Caledonia and Vanuatu are compared. We will rely on work relating to insularity to grasp the essence of this concept and a return to the notion of “island” will allow us to grasp the links maintained between insularity and transport systems. Then, we will highlight a major bias in the indices developed in previous research relating to island spaces: the latter generally approaches islands from the point of view of isolation. This is why we are developing indices to assess the openness of island spaces. Finally, a reflection is carried out on the measurement of insularity, via a quantitative approach, then based on the movement practices of the islanders and finally by analyzing a particular island space (Maré in New Caledonia) during a period of “closing” the island.

Bora Bora, Raiatea and Tahaa are three islands located in French Polynesia's Leeward Islands, on the outskirts of the Tahitian center. They welcome new residents both from other Polynesian islands and from outside the territory (mainly from mainland France). Using a methodology combining detailed statistical analysis of the population census and qualitative interviews with these new residents, this article profiles them and determines the role of insularity in their migration strategies and daily lives. It shows that these new residents seem to settle more for economic and family reasons than in response to a “desire for an island”, which puts the effect of the “Polynesian myth” into perspective. Once on the island, new residents generally appreciate the island lifestyle, although they do point out that there are a number of constraints, some of which are now easier to cope with thanks to digital communication tools.

Islands are the subject of a great deal of research in geography whereas islanders' mobilities towards mainland France remain relatively under-researched compared to the whole literature on residential mobility and islands. Islanders view this mobility as a necessity, driven by both forced and chosen factors. However, interpreting this movement purely in terms of economic need would oversimplify the issue : mobility involves, through the islanders, a wider range of motives, whether in island states or as part of continental states. In this way, the mobility experience of islanders can be useful in understanding how they arrive in a new area. The movement can be transformed into a chosen mobility over the long term before returning or not to the islands. Therefore, this article aims to understand, analyse and compare the mobility and integration of two island diasporas (French Polynesia and the Comoros) living in the Pays de Brest, a continental, coastal and urbanised area.

Having become France's 101st department in 2011, the Mayotte archipelago is home to a very young population whose division into several distinct groups is strongly linked to nationality as well as place of birth. After presenting the characteristics of Mayotte's demographic insularity within the French Republic, this article shows that the population of young Comorians and young people born in the Comoros is also highly distinct from the others, both demographically and geographically. This observation reflects the double insularity experienced by these young people who, despite the interventions of public bodies that attempt in part to offset these inequalities, experience far more difficult situations in terms of living conditions and educational levels.

This paper explores the impact of the residential context on the health and autonomy of older people in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion Island, and examines how individual and contextual characteristics, such as socio-economic status (SES) and residential context, interact to influence the risk of autonomy loss. Two indicators are used to characterise the local socio-economic context at the IRIS level: the French deprivation index (Fdep) and an ad hoc typology of the IRIS. The results indicate that individual socio-economic status is a significant predictor of the risk of activity limitation among the elderly, but that the local context also plays a role. The deprivation index is significantly associated with the risk of activity limitation, while the IRIS typology has a more limited effect when standardised to individual SES. Our findings underline the importance of considering both individual and contextual characteristics to comprehend the risks of autonomy loss among older people in the DROMs. Furthermore, they highlight the need for access to more comprehensive data in order to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of the local environment on the health of older people in these areas.

This article offers a sociological and demographic analysis of the diversity of family life in contemporary French Polynesia. Family life is here examined through the material aspects of kinship relations; both within the daily domestic unit (cohabitation, child-rearing) and through the family network whether nearby or distant (mutual assistance, visits, communication, resource sharing, caregiving for children and the elderly, etc.). In order to do so, it investigates the concrete conditions of Polynesian family life and sheds light on how sociological factors such as gender, age, social class, and place of residence influence family practices. The article thus uncovers the social dynamics that shape these practices in an insular context, characterized by significant mobility and spatial separation. This analysis relies on two complementary studies: a comprehensive quantitative survey of family configurations and an ethnographic investigation of contemporary family practices.

Based on the case of Peng Chau, a small 1 km² island with 5,700 inhabitants in the Hong Kong archipelago, this article examines how the island's inhabitants and environment are engaged in a contingent relationship, characterized by fragile yet resilient bonds. To explore this, an original field study (participant observation, interviews, and mapping) was carried out on three characteristic "goods" of the island: local T-shirts, outdoor chairs, and papayas. The analysis, supported by a theoretical framework on different types of goods in economics, highlights both the importance of the population's characteristics (in terms of ethnic lines, sectors of activity, and age profiles) and the particular relevance of the local scale (that of the island)—while acknowledging that larger or individual scales may also play a role—in understanding certain ways of fostering commonality. This contemporary fieldwork is consistently contextualized within the island's longer history. The article, co-authored, reflects the exchanges between the academic world and local community actors in the field. It draws freely from several disciplines: geography, anthropology, demography, urban planning, and economics.

In Ma'uke and Manihiki (Cook Islands – South Pacific), there is one representation of climate change that raises many questions: that of seeing positive effects of climate change where the general discourse tends to highlight only particularly harmful effects. Dealing with the question of the positive effects of climate change suffers from a certain paradox: that of being little heard in official discourse, even though it seems to have a real place in the realities observed in the field. In this article, we approach this question by formulating the following hypothesis: the existence of this meliorative discourse on climate change has its origins in the relationship that islanders have with their environment, long before the emergence of climate change. To do this, we will put islanders' representations into perspective with those of environmental players. We will then see that two distinct definitions of the concept of environment emerge, through the notions of nature-environment and original environment. Based on these two conceptions, two relationships to the environment will be described, corresponding to two ways of interpreting environmental dynamics. The first relationship, known as conservationist, associated with the conception of environmental actors, sees any change as an alteration of a balance pre-existing human presence. The second, pragmatic view, associated with islanders, sees change as a necessity to improve the condition inherited from previous generations. We conclude that the discourse positivizing certain effects of climate change is part of a local conception that sees each observed change not as something to be rejected on principle, but on the contrary, as a potential indication of improvement in one's environment.