(Reuters) – France recorded fewer than 700,000 births in 2023, the lowest level recorded since 1946, shows the annual demographic report published Tuesday by INSEE.
According to the statistics institute, 678,000 babies were born in France last year, or 6.6% less than in 2022 and almost 20% less than in 2010, the year of the last peak in births.
Births have been fewer in France each year since 2011, with the exception of the rebound in 2021, a year marked by confinements linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fertility indicator stands at 1.68 children per woman in 2023, after 1.79 in 2022. This indicator has never been so low since the Second World War, except in 1993 and 1994, specifies the statistics institute.
At the same time, the number of deaths decreased after three years of high mortality linked to heatwaves and epidemics. France recorded 44,000 fewer deaths in 2023 than in 2022, or a total of 631,000 people.
In 2023, life expectancy at birth reached 85.7 years for women and, for the first time, 80.0 years for men, adds INSEE.
As of January 1, 2024, France had 68.4 million inhabitants, an increase of 0.3% over one year.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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