Khaberni - Official figures showed that France recorded more deaths than births in the year 2025 for the first time since the end of World War II, a development that undermines the demographic advantage France has long enjoyed compared to other European Union countries.
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies reported 651,000 deaths last year, while births declined to 645,000. Birth rates in France have sharply decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traditionally, France has had a stronger population structure than most of Europe, but the large proportion of elderly people and low birth rates show that it is not immune from the demographic crisis that is straining public finances across the continent.
The Institute said that the fertility rate dropped to 1.56 children per woman last year, the lowest level since World War II and much lower than the 1.8 assumed in pension funding forecasts.
In 2023, the latest year with European Union comparisons available, France ranked second with a fertility rate of 1.65, behind Bulgaria which had a fertility rate of 1.81. Last month, the National Audit Office warned that the demographic shift would push public spending to its highest levels in the coming years, as the tax base erodes.
Economic expert Philippe Crévil, from the research center Cercle Déparné, said: "Given the retirement of the large generations born in the 1960s, it is likely that tensions in the labor market and workforce issues will rapidly increase in the coming years."
Despite the number of deaths exceeding the number of births, France's population slightly increased last year to 69.1 million people, due to net migration estimated by the Institute at up to 176,000 people.
