Country joins EU neighbours in demographic crunch of ageing population and falling birthrate
For the first time since the end of the second world war, France has recorded more deaths than births, suggesting that the country’s long-held demographic advantage over other EU countries is slipping away.
Across the country in 2025, there were 651,000 deaths and 645,000 births, according to newly released figures from the national statistics institute Insee.
France had long been an exception across Europe, with birthrates that topped many of its neighbours’. In 2023 – the most recent year for which comparable data is available – the fertility rate in France of 1.65 children per woman was the second-highest in the EU, trailing only Bulgaria’s 1.81.
This week’s data, however, suggests that the country is not immune to the demographic crunch sweeping the continent as populations age and birthrates tumble.
