Insee Focus · December 2025 · n° 374

Reference populations of French municipalities on 1 January 2023 The French population continued to grow, with natural increase contributing less and less

On 1 January 2023, the population of France excluding Mayotte officially stood at 68,094,000 inhabitants. It grew by an average of 0.39% per year between 2017 and 2023, matching the pace recorded between 2012 and 2017. From one period to the next, the contribution of natural increase declined from 0.34% to 0.15% per year, having only a limited role in the overall population growth.

Among cities with more than 100,000 residents, Villeurbanne posted the fastest population growth. By contrast, Paris recorded the second largest population decline, behind Mulhouse. Overall population growth was 2.3 times higher in urban areas than in rural ones.