The French countryside has a diverse geography, economy and social composition. The rural renewal observed since the 1970s and 80s is equally diverse, as are the processes that have contributed to it. This thesis presents statistical and cartographic analyses of the renewal phenomenon since the 1970s, at both the national and local level. It focuses on the dynamics of migration and residential mobility that have led to the settlement of diverse populations in the French countryside: the active and the retired, white-collar and blue-collar workers, families and couples, people from the city and those already originally from the country, French natives and foreigners. A detailed overview of this rural renewal is followed by an exploratory study of rural gentrification processes and a specific analysis of retired populations in the French countryside.
