On Tuesday French national statistics institute Insee published it's annual report on the population of France.
Here's what you need to know:
Population is on the rise
The French population is continuing to grow and at the beginning of 2018 there were a total of 67.2 million people living in France according to Insee.
This represents an increase of 233,000 people during the year 2017, a percentage growth of 0.3 percent.
Despite this, the pace of growth is lower than witnessed in previous years.
Photo: AFP
Birth rate in decline
There are an average of 1.88 children per woman in France, representing a decline in the country's birth rate.
In 2016 that figure stood at 1.92 and in 2014 it was at the symbolic rate of two children per woman. This rate has been on the decline for the past three years in a country that was once proud of its high rate of making babies compared to the rest of Europe.
In 2017, 767,000 babies were born, 17,000 fewer than in 2016, which represented a drop of 2.1 percent.
France nevertheless remains the European Union's most fertile country ahead of Ireland according to the most recent data available, Insee said.
As seen in previous years the birth rate was higher among women aged 25-34 compared to other age groups. However fewer women aged 25-29 were having children, a trend which has existed since 2000 and accelerated since 2015.
The average age at which women are giving birth is 30.6 compared to 29.8 ten years ago, Insee reported.
Photo: AFP
Number of deaths on the rise
In 2017, 603,000 people in France died compared to 2016 when there were 9,000 fewer deaths.
“The number of deaths has tended to increase since the beginning of the 2010s. The baby boom generation is reaching the age where mortality is high,” said Insee.
The Insee report also showed that as the birth rate declined and the death rate increased, the difference between the number of deaths and the number of babies is at a “historic low”.
Ageing population
About 19.6 percent of the French population are now aged over 65, Insee said, compared to 15.5 percent 20 years ago.
This shows that like other Western countries, France as a whole has an ageing population — posing a demographic headache since it means fewer people of working age are supporting a growing army of pensioners.
Photo: AFP
Life expectancy going up
The Insee report says that at birth men are expected to live to 79.5 years while women are expected to live to 85.3 years.
After falling in 2015, life expectancy in France started increasing for both men and women in 2016 and this rise continued for men into 2017. By contrast, life expectancy for women remained stable in 2017.
Fewer marriages
The stats show the French are less and less inclined to get married with 228,000 weddings taking place last year – 7,000 fewer than 2016. There were around 7,000 same sex marriages, roughly the sam number as the previous year.
There were also around 192,000 civil partnerships in France in 2016 as they proved most popular with young professionals in the country's big cities.
Migrants
On the migration front — a touchy political subject as President Emmanuel Macron looks deal with migrant crisis — the country saw 69,000 more arrivals than departures last year.
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Photo: AFP
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