In 2024, 663,000 babies were born in the country, or 2.2% less than in 2023, the National Institute of Statistics (Insee) indicated on Tuesday January 14, 2025. France had 68.6 million inhabitants on January 1, 2025, an increase of 0.25% over one year, limited by this drop in births, according to INSEE.
The total fertility index (TFR) stood at 1.59 children per woman in mainland France, its lowest level in more than a century (1919).
This decline is part of a medium-term trend: the TFR has been decreasing since 2010, when it stood at 2.02 children per woman in mainland France.
The fertility rate before age 40 decreased in 2024, including for women aged 30 to 39, “who were not or only slightly affected by the decline in fertility before the health crisis” of Covid, in 2020, according to INSEE.
In 2024, there will be 646,000 deaths, a number increasing by 1.1%, due to “the arrival of large baby boom generations at ages of high mortality”.
The “lowest level” observed since the end of the Second World War
Consequence of these developments: the natural balance of the French population, i.e. the difference between the number of births and deaths, is barely positive (+17,000 people). This is also the “lowest level” observed since the end of the Second World War.
The growth of the French population was mainly driven by net migration (estimated at +152,000 people), i.e. the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the territory.
As for life expectancy at birth, it has stabilized at “historically high level” : 85.6 years for women and 80.0 years for men.
