Population & Demographics
France's demographic trajectory — population size, birth rates, and a fertility decline that's reshaping the country's future.
Population (2025)
68.9M
2nd most populous EU country, after Germany
Fertility rate (2024)
1.61
Birth rate (2024)
9.7‰
Births per 1,000 people — historic low
Total Population
France's total population on January 1 each year. France is the EU's second most populous country after Germany, with roughly 68.9 million people.
Fertility Rate Over Time
Average children per woman. France was long the EU's fertility champion, sustained by generous family policies (allocations familiales). The recent drop from ~2.0 to ~1.6 has alarmed demographers — below the 2.1 replacement rate, the population eventually shrinks without immigration.
Birth Rate Over Time
Births per 1,000 population per year. France's birth rate has fallen from 13.3 in 2000 to under 10 — the lowest in modern French history.
France's Demographic Turning Point
For decades, France defied Europe's fertility decline. Generous family benefits, subsidised childcare (crèches), and a culture that supported working mothers kept the fertility rate near 2.0 — the highest in the EU. But since 2014, births have been falling steadily. The 2024 fertility rate of ~1.6 means France is now converging toward the European average. This has profound implications: fewer workers to fund pay-as-you-go pensions (retraites), slower economic growth, and growing pressure on immigration policy to fill the gap.