More households than ever in France

The size of French families is falling, according to official figures.

The average number of people living in the same property in France is 2.2, government statistics body l'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (Insee) revealed on Monday.

France had 28.5 million households in 2013, the latest date for which figures are available and which formed the basis of Insee's analysis. That is 4.2 million more than in 1999, when the household average was 2.4 people. In 1851, France had an average of four people living in each house.

The reduction in the average size of households can be explained by societal changes since the 1970s. The population of France is ageing, while divorces and separations have led to smaller families.

Single people now make up more than a third of households in France, Insee said, with older people making up the greatest number of single-person households. In 2013, 38% of people aged 75 and over lived alone.

Meanwhile, single-parent families make up on in five households in France, the figures reveal, compared to one in 10 as recently as 1990.