Insee Première · March 2021 · n° 1846

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy drops and the number of marriages falls

On 1 January 2020, the population of France is 67,4 million. In 2020, the population increases by 0.2%. The natural balance (+ 67,000), the difference between the numbers of births and deaths, has fallen sharply due to the high rise in deaths linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in births.

In 2020, 736,000 babies were born in France. The fertility rate has been declining since 2015, reaching 1.83 children per woman in 2020. In 2019, France remains the most fertile country in the European Union.

In 2020, 669,000 people died in France, i.e. 9.1% more than in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected deaths during the spring and at the end of the year. Life expectancy at birth is 85.1 years for women and 79.1 years for men. It is significantly lower than in 2019 (-0.5 years for women and -0.6 years for men). The decline is greater than in 2015, a year marked by a strong winter flu (-0.3 year and -0.2 year).

In 2020, 155,000 marriages were celebrated (-31% compared to 2019), as the pandemic prevented the celebrations from taking place or prompted them to be postponed due to the limited number of guests.