File photo
Paris: France recorded a negative natural population balance in 2025 for the first time since the end of World War II, as deaths outnumbered births, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) said on Tuesday.
According to INSEE, France's 2025 population was estimated at 69.1 million as of Jan. 1, 2026, up 0.25 percent from the previous year.
In 2025, about 645,000 babies were born in France, down 2.1 percent year-on-year, marking a fourth consecutive year in which France recorded its lowest annual birth total since World War II, INSEE said.
Deaths, meanwhile, rose to 651,000 in 2025, an increase of 1.5 percent compared with 2024. INSEE attributed the rise notably to a severe winter influenza epidemic that proved particularly deadly at the beginning of the year.
As a result, France's natural population balance turned negative in 2025, with a deficit of 6,000, the statistics office noted.
Life expectancy at birth in 2025 stood at 85.9 years for women and 80.3 years for men, according to INSEE.
