Life expectancy at birth in France has stabilised at a “historically high level”, Insee said.
The figures also showed that, as of January 1, 2025:
There were 68,606,000 people living in France, including 2.3 million in the five overseas departments.
Of these, 21.8% were aged 65 or over, a rise compared to the 16.3% in 2005
Under-15s account for 16.7% of the population, a slight drop compared to 2005 due to the falling birth rate
In one year, the country’s population has increased by 0.25%, or 169,000 people (the lowest increase of the past few years), and most of this growth comes from net immigration
France is the second-most populated country in the EU after Germany
There were almost as many deaths as births in 2024, with 663,000 births and 646,000 deaths. This is the narrowest gap (just 17,000 more births than deaths) ever seen. In contrast, in 1957, there were 851,000 births, compared to 542,000 deaths (a difference of 309,000).
Insee also said that:
France’s population is aging overall
The birth rate is at its lowest since the end of World War One. There are slightly fewer women aged 20-40, and they are having fewer children. In 2024, the birth rate was 1.62 children per woman, the lowest rate seen since 1919
Women aged 30-34 now have a higher fertility rate than women aged 25-29.
The figures for life expectancy at birth also showed that the gap between men and women is narrowing.
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The latest figures show life expectancy at birth as:
85.6 years for women
80.0 years for men, the first time the figure has hit 80.
Figures from 2023 were the same for women (85.6 years) and only slightly lower for men (79.9 years).
Life expectancy at birth for men has been increasing since the mid-1990s, and faster than the rise in life expectancy at birth for women.
In 2004, the gap between men and women was 7.1 years, but narrowed to 5.6 years in 2024.
However, women in France still have “one of the highest life expectancy [at birth] in the EU”, said Insee. Men come in 11th place (although still above the EU average).
Marriages and Pacs
Marriages are increasing (up 2% in a year, for 247,000 marriages in 2024, of which 7,000 were between two people of the same sex)
Pacs (civil partnerships) are decreasing (drop of 3% in 2023, or 204,000 Pacs, of which 10,600 were between same-sex couples)
The Pacs figures for 2024 are as-yet unknown, but in 2020, PACS overtook marriages for the first time (173,000 Pacs vs 154,000 marriages). This trend has since reversed.
Life expectancy vs life expectancy in good health
The metric of life expectancy at birth is different to that of life expectancy in good health at birth, however.
This is defined as the number of years expected, at birth, before a health condition or disability will seriously affect and/or worsen quality of life and personal independence.
Here, INSEE figures show that this is:
64.2 years for women
63.6 years for men
Between 2008 and 2023, this figure fell by an average of 0.2 months a year for women, while for men it rose by 0.6 months a year.
The new Insee figures come weeks after the release of a report from national statistics research agency Drees (Direction de la recherche, des études et de l’évaluation des statistiques) on healthy life expectancy.
Published on December 31 2024, the Drees report shows figures to the year 2023, and defined healthy life expectancy as “the number of years that a person can expect to live without being limited by a health problem in the activities of daily life”.
It termed this “disability-free life expectancy at age 65” (for those without an existing disability or severe health condition).
For this metric, France also scored well; higher than the European average (average across all 27 member states).
European average: At age 65 - two years, six months for women, and one year, four months for men after age 65 (equating to age 67 and six months for women, and 66 and four months for men).
France average: At age 65, 12 years for women, and 10.5 years for men (age 77 and 75.5 respectively).
France higher than UK and US
Healthy life expectancy in France is considerably higher than that in the UK and the US.
The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) puts this at 62.7 for women and 62.4 for men in England (and 60.3 for women and 61.1 for men in Wales).
Life expectancy at birth in the UK is also behind France, at 82.6 for women and 78.6 for men, as of 2022, the ONS states.
In the US, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that healthy life expectancy at birth was 63.9 in 2021, averaged across men and women.
Life expectancy at birth in the US, as of 2021-2022, was 76.1 overall, 79.9 for women, and 73.2, states the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This metric dropped by more than a year from 2020 to 2021 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it added.
