France Had More Deaths Than Births in 2025

France crossed a line in 2025 that hadn’t been crossed since World War II. More people died than were born. About 645,000 births. About 651,000 deaths.

That puts the natural population balance in the red for the first time in decades. France still grew slightly overall, but only because of immigration. Without it, the population would already be shrinking.

This did not come out of nowhere. Births have been falling every year since 2010. The fertility rate is now around 1.56 children per woman, the lowest since World War I. People have children later, have fewer of them, or don’t have them at all.

Deaths are rising for a simple reason. France is getting older. The baby-boom generation is now in its late 70s and 80s. A strong flu season in early 2025 added to the total, but aging is the long trend.

The government is now openly worried. In late 2025, it launched a national consultation asking French residents why they are having fewer children and what would help.

Questions focus on childcare costs, housing, job security, parental leave, and work-life balance. Results are expected in 2026.

Emmanuel Macron has floated ideas like longer and better-paid parental leave and changes to family support. For now, these are proposals, not laws.

France already has one of Europe’s most generous family policy systems, with allowances, tax benefits, and subsidized childcare. Even that has not stopped the decline.

At the same time, population growth now depends heavily on migration. Net migration added roughly 176,000 people in 2025. That keeps the total population rising, but it also fuels political tension, since immigration rules were tightened in 2024.

Demographers warn: fewer births plus longer life expectancy means more pressure on pensions, healthcare, and the workforce. France avoided this moment longer than most European countries. It has now arrived.

This helps explain why so many debates right now circle around pensions, work hours, childcare, and immigration. The numbers behind those arguments just changed.