[Images of population potential in Europe].

Abstract

"The paper proposes an evaluation of relative locations in Europe circa 1990, based on a new, probabilistic, formulation of the concept of population potential. The location of centres and peripheries, as highlighted by potential, varies according to the geographical importance of exchanges and the permeability of national boundaries. An extremely stable overall pattern emerges from two analyses, the one retrospective--using data for 1960--and the other prospective--based on the distribution of young people today--: regions with a high potential are located in concentric circles around the axis formed by the Rhine, not in the peripheral regions of Europe where population growth is higher." (SUMMARY IN ENG)