We are 67,760,573 inhabitants. This is the official figure of the French population in its 34,918 communes, excluding Mayotte, as of 1is January 2022, according to the INSEE publication published this Thursday, December 19, 2024. This means average growth of 0.35% per year between 2016 and 2022. For comparison, the rate of demographic growth was 0. 44% per year between 2011 and 2016. Here is the evolution in your department and some explanations.
Read also: Census. How is the French population counted?
Down in thirty-four departments
At the departmental level, thirty-four departments recorded a downward annual trend between 2016 and 2022. The Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts continue to gain inhabitants. The population in the regional metropolises of Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes experienced annual growth of more than 1%. The most unfavorable developments are concentrated on a broad diagonal from the north-east to the south-west of France, analyzes the national institute in its publication.
Discover the precise figures for your department with our map below:
Regarding the overseas departments, the dynamics are contrasting: Reunion and Guyana recorded an increase in their population while a decline was observed for Martinique and Guadeloupe. According to INSEE, this drop is “due to the apparent negative migration balance. » Departures from both islands are higher than arrivals.
The decline in the natural balance over a large part of the territory
Deaths outnumber births in a large part of France. This is the main cause of slowing population growth. The contribution of the natural balance to the progression of the French population is + 0.18% per year between 2016 and 2022, compared to + 0.37% between 2011 and 2016. In detail, the excess of births over deaths has summer of + 123,000 per year between 2016 and 2022; it was halved compared to +244,000 per year for the period 2011-2016.
“Two years ago, we were still in the Covid years. This pandemic has had an impact on the number of deaths in France. But that doesn’t explain everything. The number of births is also decreasing »notes Muriel Barlet, head of the demography department at INSEE.
By territory, a high natural balance was noted in the Paris region (notably the north and east of the capital), the Lyon metropolitan area, Guyana and Reunion Island. Conversely, deaths now clearly exceed births for a large part of the territory from the northeast to the southwest of the country.
Although it is not yet negative, the natural balance has clearly decreased in the western and northern regions. The birth rate was still high around ten years ago in these regions. Finally, regarding net migration, the north of the country displays a geographic deficit, while the south benefits from a surplus of arrivals over departures.
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