Population and Space in the Mediterranean: The Challenges of the 21st Century

Résumé 0

The Mediterranean region features diverse and overlapping socioeconomic and demographic dynamics, with collateral effects that have become increasingly more significant and difficult to solve. The region’s demographic evolution has been uneven. Indeed, while natural population increase in the countries of the northern shore has been weak for several decades (when it did not turn negative, as it did in Italy), the southern and eastern shores continue to benefit from a still considerable natural surplus despite a sharp decline in fertility (Angeli & Salvini, 2018; Bellis, Carella, Léger, Parant, 2021a). Furthermore, the contrasting demographic regimes along the northern (European), eastern (Asian) and southern (African) shores have resulted in a major change in the distribution of the populations whose composition by age group is also very different (Parant & Léger, 2020). In 2020, the countries of the African shore represent the most populated area of the Mediterranean Basin (39% vs. 38% for the countries of the European shore), while in 1950 the northern shore grouped two-thirds of the total population. Moreover, 47% of individuals on the southern shore and 42% of those residing on the eastern shore are now under 25 years old; while the under 25s represent just over a quarter of the population (26%) on the northern shore (Bellis, Carella, Léger, Parant, 2021b). The population of the northern shore is inexorably aging, whereas those of the southern and eastern shores have remained young despite the increase in life expectancy.