Demography report 2018 Fertility falls for four years

On 1 January 2019, the population of France was nearly 67 million. The population increased by 0.30% in 2018. As in previous years, the population growth was mainly due to the natural balance (the difference between the numbers of births and deaths), although this balance have reached a historically low level of +144,000 people.

In 2018, 758,000 babies were born in France, which is 12,000 fewer than in 2017. This is the fourth consecutive year of drop. The total fertility rate was 1.87 children per woman in 2018. It has been declining for four years, but the decline is slowing down. It is back to its 2002 level. In 2016, France still remains the most fertile country in the European Union.

In 2018, 614,000 people died, which is 8,000 more than in 2017. Life expectancy at birth was 85.3 years for females and 79.4 years for males. France is one of the European countries where females live the longest, whereas it is only in ninth position for males.

In 2018, 235,000 marriages were celebrated, 6,000 of which were between people of the same sex. In 2017, for the sixth consecutive year, the number of civil partnerships increased to reach 194,000.