Living in the countryside has concrete consequences for life expectancy.
According to two studies commissioned by the Association of Mayors of France, life expectancy in the countryside is two years less than in cities.
The more difficult access to care is one of the explanatory factors for this finding.
Life expectancy in the countryside is declining compared to that of city dwellers.
Likewise, access to healthcare is more difficult.
These are the "staggering", "spectacular" results of studies on the issue, including one made public on Wednesday.
Emmanuel Vigneron, professor of universities in Montpellier, carried out two studies on behalf of the Association of Mayors of France (AMRF).
He shows that life expectancy has decreased for 30 years in the countryside compared to the city, after revealing in the first ten days ago that rural people had less access to hospital care than city dwellers.
Two years of life expectancy less for rural people
Two studies which give a not really bucolic image of the countryside and quite far from the idealized vision that some city dwellers may have had wishing to leave the cities after the first confinement.
"It is better that city dwellers who say to themselves that it would be great to live in the countryside and to work from home do not mythologize too much the chirping of birds", warns Emmanuel Vigneron.
"Life expectancy takes a hit because we consume less (care) and we consume later. There are fewer doctors, illnesses can become serious," he warns.
His warning to potential neo-rural dwellers is based on "the growing inequalities in the field of health" between the inhabitants of the cities and those of the countryside for some thirty years, a trend which has even been reinforced after the 2008 financial crisis. His study on life expectancy at birth, carried out using statistical data from INSEE, reveals that "rural inhabitants live two years less than those in cities".
According to his results, men are the worst off with 2.2 years less life expectancy at birth, against 0.9 years for women.
"Less information, fewer doctors"
In his first study, Mr. Vigneron concluded that the inhabitants of the rural world consumed 20% less hospital care than those in the cities. "The explanation according to him:" Because we are far, because we have less information, because there are fewer doctors, ”he says.
For Dominique Dhumeaux, 1st vice-president of the AMRF and mayor of Fercé-sur-Sarthe, a locality of 600 inhabitants located in the department of Sarthe, these studies confirm "a reality" that he perceives on the ground and that Rural mayors find it difficult to make the authorities understand.
Studies to "alert politicians"
He also fears that the deterioration will continue over the next few years with the increase in medical deserts due to many retirements of general practitioners.
"It is obvious that in three or four years, the figures will show that life expectancy will have further deteriorated in the countryside compared to the city", he predicts, assuring that the aim of this study is "to alert politicians "to the health situation in rural areas.
Mr. Vigneron hopes, for his part, that his studies "serve to pose problems a little differently and to treat them".
And, he emphasizes, "I would be delighted if the regional health agencies (ARS), whose mission is to reduce inequalities and fight against them, take up the subject to develop prevention policies specific to campaign".