(Reuters) – Life expectancy in France stagnated in 2022 and remains lower than before the COVID -19 pandemic, while the number of births in 2022 is the lowest since 1946, the demographic balance sheet published shows Tuesday by INSEE.
With 85.2 years for women and 79.3 years for men, life expectancy in France remains at levels close to those of 2021 but 0.4 years lower than those of 2019, according to the national institute. statistics.
The number of deaths remained high in the country during the year 2022 due to the aging of the population, the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic and heat waves, adds INSEE.
In total, 667,000 people died in France last year, i.e. 5,000 more than in 2021, and only 2,000 less than in 2020, the year the health crisis began.
The number of births also reached its lowest historic level since 1946 in 2022, with 723,000 babies born during the year, or 19,000 less than in 2021, a year when births rebounded after six consecutive years of decline. .
The publication of these figures comes as France, where one in five people is aged 65 or over according to INSEE, has just launched a project to reform its pension system, the most criticized measure of which is the gradual increase legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.
The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, declared last week, during the presentation of the reform, that this one aimed at ensuring the balance of the mode, the number of contributors decreasing compared to the number of pensioners.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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