The National Institute of Statistics has studied the evolution of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita in the different French regions between 2000 and 2020.
Over the period 2000-2019, which excludes the exceptional effects of the Covid crisis, GDP per capita increased by an average of 0,7% per year in France (excluding Mayotte).
But the differences are large between the regions, with growth of more than 1% per year for Ile-de-France, at the top of the metropolitan regions, when it only reaches between 0,2% and 0,3% per year. in Normandy, in the Grand Est, in Bourgogne-Franche Comté and in Centre-Val de Loire.
INSEE explains this difference by a lower increase in GDP per job, which represents the wealth created per job and which relates the GDP of the region in question to the number of jobs in this same territory.
According to the institute, we have observed for twenty years in these regions "an intensification of commuting to Ile-de-France", in particular for Burgundy-Franche Comté, as well as an "aging of the population on the period, relatively more marked in Normandy".
More generally, the employment rate (the ratio between the number of people in employment and the total number of inhabitants) has also experienced "moderate growth" in these regions.
Another lesson from this note: for 20 years, the overseas territories, with the notable exception of Guyana, have also seen the gap narrow with the metropolis.
GDP per capita growth was much stronger there, with +1,8% per year in Guadeloupe, +1,7% in Martinique and +1,4% in Reunion.
"In these three regions, the increase in employment per inhabitant over the period, contributes relatively more than in metropolitan France to the growth of GDP per inhabitant", in particular in Reunion, explains INSEE.
In 2020, GDP per capita was thus 34.100 euros on average in France. It reaches 57.600 euros in Ile-de-France, and is the only one to be higher than the national average, against 20.200 euros in the overseas regions.
The health crisis has penalized all regions, but GDP per capita has even fallen below its 2000 level in Bourgogne-Franche Comté, Grand Est, Normandy and Centre-Val de Loire.