The highest birth rate in Europe has helped increase the French population to more than 65 million people, according to official statistics expected this month.

"/> The highest birth rate in Europe has helped increase the French population to more than 65 million people, according to official statistics expected this month.

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POPULATION

Baby boom pushes population to 65 million

The highest birth rate in Europe has helped increase the French population to more than 65 million people, according to official statistics expected this month.

Published: 2 January 2012 08:25 CET

Baby boom pushes population to 65 million

Justyna Furmanczyk

Business daily Les Echos published an official estimate from national statistics agency Insee that there were 64,304,500 in France in January 2009.

The figures showed an increase of 342,641 people in one year.

Based on the same increase in population, the number of inhabitants in France should have easily passed the 65 million mark by January 1st 2012.

One of the major reasons for the increase is the high level of births. With a birth rate of two children per woman, France has the highest rate in Europe.

Other factors include the rise in life expectancy and increased immigration.

French media was celebrating the good news on Monday.

“Demographically speaking, France is going great, thank you,” said daily newspaper Metro.

“In contrast to the economy, demography is very dynamic in France,” said Les Echos.

There are now 4 million more inhabitants in the country than in January 1999.

Every region of France saw an increase in population, except Champagne-Ardenne in the north east.

The most populated region in France was the Ile-de-France, counting 11.7 million inhabitants.

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Denmark expects twice as many people over 80 years old in 2050

By 2050, a much larger proportion of Denmark's population will be over 80 years old. File photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

A new population projection from national agency Statistics Denmark predicts 431,000 people of the age of 80 in Denmark in 2030.

That will increase to 617,000 by 2050, around 10 percent of the population.

Today, Denmark has around 282,000 over-80s in its population, which is around 5 percent of the population.

A large increase in the number of elderly persons is expected to present Denmark’s social welfare system with economic challenges, with larger numbers likely to need care and practical help.

In its report, Statistics Denmark writes that the “greatest (population) growth going forward is expected to take place amongst the oldest age groups”.

Other age groups are not expected to greatly change their proportion of the population during the period covered by the projection, the agency writes.

The overall population is expected to grow by 0.4 percent by 2028. After that, growth will plateau, giving a growth of 0.12 percent in 2050. It is then forecast to increase again, reaching 0.2 percent in 2060.

Major factors affecting the population size – birth rates, death rates and immigration – are all predicted to vary at different times throughout the period.

But Statistics Denmark writes that it expects a deficit in the number of births between 2044 and 2053.

The 2021 projection does not take into account the potential long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the population. That is because “no sufficient basis of knowledge and experience is yet available,” the statistics bureau writes.

However, the agency noted that the biggest impact of the pandemic on population size in 2020 was its restrictive effect on immigration and emigration.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s immigration and emigration is mostly to and from Western countries

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