France has a few more inhabitants but fewer children. This is the observation delivered Tuesday by the INSEE demographic report, showing an aging country. From population growth, to the number of marriages and the age pyramid, 20 minutes reveals the figures you need to know about the French population.
- Slight population growth
As of January 1, 2024, 68,373,000 people lived in France, including 66.1 million in mainland France and 2.2 million in the five overseas departments. As in 2022, the population increased by 0.3%, a growth rate which slows down compared to +0.4% in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and +0.5% in 2017 and 2018.
This increase is mainly linked to net migration (estimated at +183,000 people), i.e. the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the territory. It was also driven by the natural balance of the population, namely the difference between the number of births and deaths. This balance, which amounted to +47,000 people, has however reached its “lowest level since the end of the Second World War”, specifies the National Institute of Statistics in this annual demographic report.
- Sharp drop in births
The low level of the natural balance is mainly explained by the decline in births, which is faster than that in deaths. In 2023, 678,000 babies were born in the country, 6.6% less than the previous year, which corresponds to the lowest number of births in one year since 1946.
This decline in the birth rate is mainly due to the drop in the fertility rate, which stood at 1.68 children per woman last year, compared to 1.79 in 2022. It had decreased each year between 2015 and 2020, after having oscillated around two children per woman between 2006 and 2014. In 2023, this fertility rate will fall for women of all ages, including those aged 30 or over, “not or little affected by the decline in fertility.” fertility” before the Covid-19 health crisis.
Pleading for a “relaunch of the birth rate”, Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday evening during his press conference the creation of “birth leave” to replace the current parental leave, as well as the launch of a “major plan” to fight against the scourge of “infertility”. But for Sylvie Le Minez, head of the demographic studies unit at INSEE, “there are undoubtedly a huge number of factors at play” such as “the economic context of high inflation” and the issue of “reconciliation between family life and (life) professional” which could put some people off having children.
France, however, remained in 2021 (latest possible comparison) the most fertile country in the European Union, with 1.84 children per woman, according to Eurostat.
- Much fewer deaths
For 2023, INSEE records 631,000 deaths, a number down 6.5% compared to 2022, a year marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and episodes of extreme heat. In 2023, the summer heatwaves were, on the other hand, “significantly less deadly”.
As for life expectancy at birth, it has increased significantly to stand at 85.7 years for women (+0.6 years) and 80 years (+0.7) for men, a first . Since the mid-1990s, it has grown less quickly for women than for men, thus reducing the gap between the two sexes.
- An aging population
Concerning the age pyramid, on January 1, 2024, 21.5% of residents were 65 years old or over. The trend is not new: this proportion has in fact been increasing for more than thirty years. And the aging of the population has accelerated since the mid-2010s, with the arrival at these ages of large baby boom generations. At the start of the year, those under 15 represented 17% of the population.
- Marriages and civil partnerships remain at a high level
Some 242,000 marriages were celebrated in France last year, including 235,000 between people of different sexes and 7,000 between people of the same sex. The number of marriages is stabilizing at the high level of 2022, which is partly explained by a catch-up of unions postponed during the pandemic, according to INSEE. The number of Pacs is also at a high level (210,000), like the previous year.