Although not directly related, I read two articles—one dealing with longevity and the other with the best cities for people over 60—that were published about the same time. Not only is life expectancy in France higher than it has ever been—85.6 years for women and 80 for men—it’s also healthier. For both genders, according to the government’s health statistics office, DREES, the proportion of disability-free life expectancy at age 65 has increased by at least 50% since 2008, meaning that over half of the years after 65 are expected to be healthy ones. However, even with universal healthcare where everyone should have equal access, some social inequities can still have an impact.

Cancer and cardiovascular disease remain the two main causes of death for everyone although studies confirm that those with higher education and higher-paid jobs often live longer because of better working conditions and wiser lifestyle choices. To address that longer, healthier life, the newspaper Le Figaro studied 1000 communities with a population of at least 9000 to find where best to spend it. 

They included 35 criteria in their research that would be important to anyone but especially to senior citizens. Some of those were:

• Health: medical personnel and facilities
• Business: shops, supermarkets, bakeries
• Leisure: libraries, pools, sport halls, movie theaters
• Environment: green spaces and air quality

The top 10 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants:

• Caen (today’s featured photo is the abbey in Caen)
• Aix-en-Provence
• Nice
• Annecy
• Bordeaux
• Metz
• Perpignan
• Nimes
• Toulouse
• Angers

Cities between 40,000 and 100,000 inhabitants:

• Les Sables-d’Olonne
• Saint-Malo
• Vannes
• Albi
• Brive-la-Gaillarde
• La Rochelle
• Quimper
• Montauban
• Gap
• Hyères 

Cities under 40,000 inhabitants:

• Pornic
• Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer
• Fontainebleau
• Fouesnant
• Lavaur
• Cahors
• Cabestany
• Orthez
• Biscarrosse
• Mende

There are numerous surveys like these released throughout the year that we think can help to narrow down the abundance of choices for new hometowns in France . You can find the ones that we’ve highlighted on the blog by choosing the tag “Where to live in France” in the right hand column on this page. Good luck with your hunt!