Fewer babies, more elderly people, rising life expectancy: France has gradually changed and is now at a demographic turning point. For the first time since World War II, there were more deaths than births, according to the national statistics institute Insee.
France, which now has 69.1 million inhabitants, recorded more deaths than births in 2025 for the first time since the end of the Second World War, Insee announced in its report released on Tuesday.
As of 1 January 2026, the population increased by 0.25 percent compared with last year, France’s national statistics office Insee said on Tuesday.
But for the first time since 1944, this growth is due solely to net migration – the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the country – estimated at +176,000 people.
Natural population change, which measures the difference between births and deaths, has now turned negative, at -6,000 people. This situation is explained by two factors: a decline in births and a rise in deaths.
"What is striking is how, in just a few years, the natural balance has fallen due to the rapid decline in births," said Sylvie Le Minez, head of demographic and social studies at Insee, at a press conference. As recently as 2015, the natural balance stood at +200,000 people.
Work, family life balance
In 2025, 645,000 babies were born in France, 2.1 percent fewer than the previous year, marking the lowest annual total since the end of the Second World War for the fourth consecutive year. This represents a 24 percent drop compared with 2010, described as "the last peak year for births".
The decline is due to falling fertility, measured by the number of children per woman. The total fertility rate continued to decrease, reaching 1.56 children per woman, down from 1.61 in 2024 – the lowest level since the end of the First World War.
Why do French people want to have fewer children, or none at all?
This drop is also part of a medium-term trend: the index has been declining since 2010, when it stood at 2.02 children per woman in mainland France.
Demographers cite various explanations: people have aspirations other than starting a family, face obstacles such as difficulty finding stable employment or housing, or are held back by concerns including balancing work and family life and climate-related uncertainties.
Fear of lacking sufficient financial means emerged as one of the main barriers to having children during a recent citizen consultation carried out as part of a parliamentary mission on falling birth rates.
"Childcare is a huge expense for us – €800 a month – we couldn’t have two children," said Océane, 32, the mother of a three-year-old and an executive at a company in Marseille. "Work, the home, children – I wouldn’t know how to manage everything at once."
France's ageing population is having fewer babies and living longer than ever
At 37, Jessica plans to have only one child with her partner, mainly because of her age. "My desire to start a family came late, we live very well and we are very happy together," explains this Parisian, who works in communications and is also worried about "the cost of raising children".
At the same time, Insee has observed a rise in deaths due to the large baby-boom generations reaching ages of higher mortality.
In 2025, 651,000 people died in France, an increase of 1.5 percent compared with the previous year. This rise is also explained by the winter flu epidemic, which was "particularly virulent in January," according to Insee.
European statistics
In reaching this symbolic milestone, France is the last major EU country to tip into negative natural population growth.
According to figures compiled by Eurostat, the European Union’s natural population balance (including the United Kingdom until 2020) turned negative in 2015. Since 2020, the number of deaths in the EU’s 27 member states has exceeded the number of births by more than one million each year.
Since reunification in 1990, Germany has always recorded more deaths than births, while Italy’s natural balance turned negative in 1993, Poland’s in 2013 and Spain’s in 2015, Eurostat said.
In 2024, apart from France, only five countries still recorded a positive natural population balance, according to the same source: Ireland, Sweden, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta. Denmark was at equilibrium.
(with newswires)
