Region of birth and region of residence: the mobility of postgraduates

In 2012 in France, 15 million residents were holders of a postgraduate qualification or carrying out postgraduate studies. The people with the highest levels of training were also the most likely to leave their region of birth during their lifetime. Among students and postgraduates living in France, close to one in three lived in a different region to the one in which they were born and close to one in eight was born abroad. Their geographical distribution was highly variable: between the age of 25 and 34, more than half of Île -de-France residents had a postgraduate qualification or were studying for one compared to less than one third of Corsica residents. Île-de-France was characterised by numerous arrivals and departures; it particularly attracted people from the surrounding regions and abroad. More than a quarter of those with higher education were thus concentrated there, while less than a fifth of those with higher education who live today in France were born there. The regions of the south-east attracted new arrivals while few of those originally from these regions have left, according to records. Regions in the north-east saw few departures and even fewer arrivals. Flows were more balanced on the Atlantic coast and relatively intense in the south.