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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Empty diagonal</span></span>

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<p>The <b>empty diagonal</b> (<a href="French_language" title="French language">French</a>: <i lang="fr">diagonale du vide</i>) is a band of low-density population that stretches from the <a href="France" title="France">French</a> department of the <a href="Landes_(department)" title="Landes (department)">Landes</a> in the southwest to the <a href="Meuse_(department)" title="Meuse (department)">Meuse</a> in the northeast. The diagonal's <a href="Population_density" title="Population density">population density</a> is very low compared to the rest of France.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Description">Description</h2></div>

<p>The low population density (less than 30/km<sup>2</sup> or 78/sq mi) is caused largely by the <a href="Rural_exodus" class="mw-redirect" title="Rural exodus">rural exodus</a> and urbanisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some commentators<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> prefer to speak of a "low-density diagonal" (<span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">diagonale des faibles densités</i></span>) and regard the term "empty diagonal" as both pejorative and exaggerated. Still, <a href="D%C3%A9l%C3%A9gation_interminist%C3%A9rielle_%C3%A0_l'am%C3%A9nagement_du_territoire_et_%C3%A0_l'attractivit%C3%A9_r%C3%A9gionale" title="Délégation interministérielle à l'aménagement du territoire et à l'attractivité régionale">DATAR</a><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> used the term and it remains the most common term.

</p><p>The pattern is more readily apparent at the <a href="Departments_of_France" title="Departments of France">departmental</a> level than at the <a href="Regions_of_France" title="Regions of France">regional</a> level.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is part of a broader pattern of low population density that extends into <a href="Spain" title="Spain">Spain</a> and <a href="Portugal" title="Portugal">Portugal</a> and is known as the continental diagonal.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History_and_evolution">History and evolution</h2></div>

<p>Before the emergence of the empty diagonal, an earlier demographic feature was the <a href="Saint-Malo" title="Saint-Malo">Saint-Malo</a>-<a href="Geneva" title="Geneva">Geneva</a> line that ran from the northwest to the southeast and divided the industrial northeast from the agrarian southwest. <a href="Charles_Dupin" title="Charles Dupin">Charles Dupin</a> identified it in his 1837 treatise <span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">Forces productives et commerciales de la France</i></span>.

</p><p>In 1947, the geographer <a href="Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Gravier" title="Jean-François Gravier">Jean-François Gravier</a> wrote of a "French desert" that corresponds, more or less, to the modern notion of the empty diagonal.

</p><p><a href="Herv%C3%A9_Le_Bras" title="Hervé Le Bras">Hervé Le Bras</a> and <a href="Emmanuel_Todd" title="Emmanuel Todd">Emmanuel Todd</a> argue that the concept is no longer valid in the 21st century because of growth that is observed in some departments like <a href="Indre" title="Indre">Indre</a> and <a href="Gers" title="Gers">Gers</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to their analysis, the zone of negligible or negative population growth extends only from the <a href="Massif_Central" title="Massif Central">Massif Central</a> to <a href="Lorraine" title="Lorraine">Lorraine</a>. However, an analysis at the level of cantons and communes indicates that the zone of decline extends beyond the Massif–Lorraine axis<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and that the growth observed by Le Bras and Todd is fragile and driven by a temporary influx of retirees.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Literature">Literature</h2></div>

<p><i>La diagonale du vide</i> is the title of a 2009 novel by <a href="Pierre_P%C3%A9ju" title="Pierre Péju">Pierre Péju</a><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> in which an urban businessman seeks solitude in a cottage in <a href="Ard%C3%A8che" title="Ardèche">Ardèche</a>.

</p><p>From 2015 to 2016, the author and blogger Mathieu Mouillet spent 18 months exploring the empty diagonal and meeting its inhabitants. His "exotic voyage" is presented by notes and photographs on his blog.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Gallery">Gallery</h2></div>

<div class="gallerytext">Map of population density by department, showing the empty diagonal in blue.</div>

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<div class="gallerytext">Detailed map of population density, with the least populated areas in white.</div>

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<ul><li><a href="Rotten_Banana" title="Rotten Banana">Rotten Banana</a></li>

<li><a href="Golden_Banana" title="Golden Banana">Golden Banana</a></li>

<li><a href="Blue_Banana" title="Blue Banana">Blue Banana</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFJean-Claude_Bontron1976" class="citation book cs1">Jean-Claude Bontron (1976). <i>La France des faibles densités, II : Documentation bibliographique, Analyses d'études</i>. SEGESA-ACEAR.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGilles_Fumey2009" class="citation web cs1">Gilles Fumey (2009-10-26). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cafe-geo.net/wp-content/uploads/france-en-diagonales.pdf">"La France en diagonales"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">18 July</span> 2016</span>.</cite>.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://avenirural.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/le-massif-central-au-coeur-de-la-diagonale-du-vide-2/">"Le Massif Central : au cœur de la <i>diagonale du vide</i>"</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://geoconfluences.ens-lyon.fr/doc/territ/FranceMut/FranceMutVoc.htm">"La France : des territoires en mutation"</a>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFRozenblat,_C.1995" class="citation web cs1">Rozenblat, C. (April 1995). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mgm.fr/PUB/Mappemonde/M495/MAILLE.pdf">"Tissu d'un semi de villes européennes"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>.</cite><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite web}}</code>: CS1 maint: url-status (link)</span></span>

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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFYoann_DoignonSébastien_OliveauIsabelle_Blöss-Widmer2016" class="citation journal cs1">Yoann Doignon; Sébastien Oliveau; Isabelle Blöss-Widmer (2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://eps.revues.org/6171">"L'Europe méridionale depuis 20 ans : dépeuplement, dépopulation et renouveau démographique"</a>. <i>Espace, Populations, Sociétés</i> (2015/3–2016/1). <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.4000%2Feps.6171">10.4000/eps.6171</a></span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHervé_Le_BrasEmmanuel_Todd2013" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Herv%C3%A9_Le_Bras" title="Hervé Le Bras">Hervé Le Bras</a>; <a href="Emmanuel_Todd" title="Emmanuel Todd">Emmanuel Todd</a> (2013). <i>Le Mystère français</i>. Seuil. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9782021102161</bdi>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFYoann_DoignonSébastien_Oliveau2016" class="citation journal cs1">Yoann Doignon; Sébastien Oliveau (20 January 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/31641">"Is the French diagonal emptying? An exploratory spatial analysis of demographic decrease in France for the past 50 years"</a>. <i>European Journal of Geography</i>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.4000%2Fcybergeo.31641">10.4000/cybergeo.31641</a></span>.</cite> (translated from "<span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">La diagonale se vide ? Analyse spatiale exploratoire des décroissances démographiques en France métropolitaine depuis 50 ans</i></span>", <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.4000%2Fcybergeo.27439">10.4000/cybergeo.27439</a>)</span>

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<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFPierre_Péju2009" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Pierre_P%C3%A9ju" title="Pierre Péju">Pierre Péju</a> (2009). <i>La diagonale du vide</i>. <a href="%C3%89ditions_Gallimard" title="Éditions Gallimard">Éditions Gallimard</a>, <a href="Collection_Blanche" title="Collection Blanche">Collection Blanche</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9782070781034</bdi>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMathieu_Mouillet" class="citation web cs1">Mathieu Mouillet. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.lesvoyagesdemat.com/diagonale-du-vide/">"La diagonale du vide"</a>.</cite></span>

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This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-07-26" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Empty_diagonal&oldid=1302529179">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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