Although the total number of firms does not increase much, the French productive system is facing a constant renewal: every year, more than one firm out of ten exits and one in ten enters in activity, without any systematic correspondence of location and activity between entries and exits. While urban areas are characterized by an intense turnover of their productive units, the low turnover rate observed in rural areas comes along with a higher survival rate of newly created firms. In terms of the turnover intensity, peri-urban areas are in an intermediate situation but, by the same time, benefit from a specific positive effect in terms of demographic balance.