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3h ago

Deaths Outnumber Births in France for First Time Since World War II

INSEE attributes the shift to falling births, compounded by an older population.

Un nouveau-né à la maternité du centre hospitalier de Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze), en 2023.
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L’Union européenne enregistre plus de décès que de naissances depuis 2015, selon les chiffres compilés par Eurostat. Image d’illustration.
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Overview

  • INSEE reports 651,000 deaths and 645,000 births in 2025, leaving a natural balance of -6,000.
  • The fertility rate fell to 1.56 children per woman, the lowest since World War I, with births down 2.1% year on year and 24% since 2010.
  • Deaths rose 1.5% in part due to a particularly severe January influenza wave, even as life expectancy hit new highs (85.9 years for women, 80.3 for men).
  • France’s total population edged up to 69.1 million on Jan. 1, 2026, sustained by estimated net migration of about 176,000.
  • People aged 65 and over now account for 22.2% of residents, nearly matching under‑20s at 22.5%, a turn that arrived earlier than INSEE’s projections and mirrors the EU’s long‑running negative natural balance, prompting fiscal and labor‑market warnings from public auditors.