For the first time in 80 years, the number of deaths exceeds the number of births in France

In a historical transformation, France recorded within one year the number of deaths exceeding the number of births, for the first time in 80 years, since 1945.

According to numbers published by the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (InseeIt was published by Radio Radio France, 651 thousand deaths were recorded compared to 650,000 births between June 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025, which means a demographic deficit of a thousand people.

Demographic expert Julian Damon told France Radio that the transformation towards the population is new, and added: “What we are witnessing is an unexpected acceleration in demographic change, and this transformation was expected to take place by 2035, but we reached it ten years ago, and this explains the danger of lower fertility.”

For her part, the Minister of Labor and Health Catherine Futran said: “The decrease in the number of births is continuing, but rather has accelerated in particular since 2022,” stressing that France has lost its rate of 30 thousand births annually.

The birth decrease is partially explained by the decrease in the required number of children for each family. He decreased from 2.7 children in 1998 to 2.3 children in 2024, according to the French National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED). The climate change, the economic crisis, or the political context in the country, and the fear of the future are factors that constitute an obstacle to the desire to have children. This includes all social classes, and it may become more clear if material restrictions emerge.

In parallel to this decline in births, infant mortality rates in France are increasing, and infant mortality has gradually increased since 2011, from 3.5 to 4.1 per thousand live births, meaning that one out of 250 children die before reaching his first year.

Since 2015, the infant mortality rate in France has become higher than the average European Union, which recorded in 2023 rates of 3.3 per thousand, compared to 4 per thousand in France.