This statistic shows the total number of male births in France from 2004 to 2022. In 2004, there were 393,477 boys born in France. The number of male births in France peaked in 2010 with more than 410,000 births recorded. The number of boy births has been declining for many years, in 2022 the number dropped below 352,000.

In 2025, the Ile-de-France region, sometimes called the Paris region, was the most populous in France. It is located in the northern part of France, divided into eight departments and crossed by the Seine River. The region contains Paris, its large suburbs, and several rural areas. The total population in metropolitan France was estimated at around 65 million inhabitants. In the DOM (Overseas Department), France had more than two million citizens spread over the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, and the South American territory of French Guyana. Ile-de-France: most populous region in France According to the source, more than 12 million French citizens lived in the Ile-de-France region. Ile-de-France was followed by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Occitanie region which is in the Southern part of the country. Ile-de-France is not only the most populated region in France, it is also the French region with the highest population density. In 2020, there were 1,021.6 residents per square kilometer in Ile-de-France compared to 115.9 for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the second most populated region in France. More than two million people were living in the city of Paris in 2025. Thus, the metropolitan area outside the city of Paris, called suburbs or banlieue in French, had more than ten million inhabitants. Ile-de-France concentrates the majority of the country’s economic and political activities. An urban population In 2024, the total population of France amounted to over 68 million. The population in the country increased since the mid-2000s. As well as the other European countries, France is experiencing urbanization. In 2023, more than 81 percent of the French population lived in cities. This phenomenon shapes France’s geography.

The total population of France has been increasing for years now, exceeding 68 million inhabitants in 2025. However, like most Western nations, France is struggling with an aging population. Demographics in France For a few years, the population growth in France has been decreasing. However, unlike the majority of European countries, France appears to have a steady fertility rate of around 1.79 children per woman. This phenomenon allows France to be ranked as the most fertile country in Europe. But this cannot hide the fact that the population is getting older every year. An aging country The median age of French citizens has been increasing since the seventies. In 2050, the median age in France is expected to reach 43.5 years, compared to 35.2 years back in 1995. France has one of the highest life expectancies in Europe. Even though its birth rate seems pretty high compared to other European nations, this does not appear to be enough to slow down the growing trend of the French median age.

This statistic shows the population distribution in France on January 1st, 2024, by age group. In 2024, people aged under 15 accounted for 17 percent of the total French population, whereas around ten percent of the population were 75 years and older. By comparison, the number of members of the population over the age of 65 years has increased even more prominently, reaching 14.14 million in 2023. The number of people living in France has been steadily increasing since 1982, exceeding 68 million in 2024, having thus grown by seven percent during that time.

This graph shows the distribution of the French millennial population by age group as of 2024. That year, women aged between 15 and 39 accounted for almost 31 percent of the French women population, while just over 28 percent of the male population in France was made up of people aged between 15 and 39.

During the eighteenth century, it is estimated that France's population grew by roughly fifty percent, from 19.7 million in 1700, to 29 million by 1800. In France itself, the 1700s are remembered for the end of King Louis XIV's reign in 1715, the Age of Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. During this century, the scientific and ideological advances made in France and across Europe challenged the leadership structures of the time, and questioned the relationship between monarchial, religious and political institutions and their subjects. France was arguably the most powerful nation in the world in these early years, with the second largest population in Europe (after Russia); however, this century was defined by a number of costly, large-scale conflicts across Europe and in the new North American theater, which saw the loss of most overseas territories (particularly in North America) and almost bankrupted the French crown. A combination of regressive taxation, food shortages and enlightenment ideologies ultimately culminated in the French Revolution in 1789, which brought an end to the Ancien Régime, and set in motion a period of self-actualization.

War and peace

After a volatile and tumultuous decade, in which tens of thousands were executed by the state (most infamously: guillotined), relative stability was restored within France as Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799, and the policies of the revolution became enforced. Beyond France's borders, the country was involved in a series of large scale wars for two almost decades, and the First French Empire eventually covered half of Europe by 1812. In 1815, Napoleon was defeated outright, the empire was dissolved, and the monarchy was restored to France; nonetheless, a large number of revolutionary and Napoleonic reforms remained in effect afterwards, and the ideas had a long-term impact across the globe. France experienced a century of comparative peace in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars; there were some notable uprisings and conflicts, and the monarchy was abolished yet again, but nothing on the scale of what had preceded or what was to follow. A new overseas colonial empire was also established in the late 1800s, particularly across Africa and Southeast Asia. Through most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, France had the second largest population in Europe (after Russia), however political instability and the economic prioritization of Paris meant that the entire country did not urbanize or industrialize at the same rate as the other European powers. Because of this, Germany and Britain entered the twentieth century with larger populations, and other regions, such as Austria or Belgium, had overtaken France in terms of industrialization; the German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War was also a major contributor to this.

World Wars and contemporary France

Coming into the 1900s, France had a population of approximately forty million people (officially 38 million* due to to territorial changes), and there was relatively little growth in the first half of the century. France was comparatively unprepared for a large scale war, however it became one of the most active theaters of the First World War when Germany invaded via Belgium in 1914, with the ability to mobilize over eight million men. By the war's end in 1918, France had lost almost 1.4 million in the conflict, and approximately 300,000 in the Spanish Flu pandemic that followed. Germany invaded France again during the Second World War, and occupied the country from 1940, until the Allied counter-invasion liberated the country during the summer of 1944. France lost around 600,000 people in the course of the war, over half of which were civilians. Following the war's end, the country experienced a baby boom, and the population grew by approximately twenty million people in the next fifty years (compared to just one million in the previous fifty years). Since the 1950s, France's economy quickly grew to be one of the strongest in the world, despite losing the vast majority of its overseas colonial empire by the 1970s. A wave of migration, especially from these former colonies, has greatly contributed to the growth and diversity of France's population today, which stands at over 65 million people in 2020.

In 1801 the population of France was estimated to be just under 20 million people, the number of women was 14 million, whereas the number of men was 13.3 million. The gap then widens in 1821 to 0.9 million, which is most likely a result of the Napoleonic Wars, and it then narrows during the rest of the century, shrinking to just 0.04 million in 1866.

Throughout the time shown in the graph the numbers of men and women seem to follow similar trends, however the period between 1911 and 1946 shows how drastically the numbers of men were affected by both World Wars. Between 1911 and 1921 the number of men dropped by 0.8 million, whereas the number of women grew by 0.4 million. The male population does grow again during the interwar years, however both populations drop between 1931 and 1946 due to the Second World War, with the number of males decreasing by just under one million and the number of females by 0.4 million. This graph does not show how many died in France during the wars, as the numbers would also be influenced by the birth and natural death rate, but it does give an insight into the long term affects it had on the population.

From 1946 onwards the population of France does grow steadily, and at a much faster rate than it did in the 19th century. The population grows from just under 40 million in 1946, to 65.7 million in 2020, with 31.2 and 33.2 million men and women respectively. This increase in growth comes as a result of an increased fertility rate as well as an increased rate of migration into the country. While the difference in the number of men and women did decrease after the war, reaching its lowest point of 1.1 million in 1975, the gap has widened again to over two million in 2020.

Of the 68 million people living in France in 2023, more than 59 million were born French. Three million have acquired French nationality through an application for naturalization. The rest of the residents in France are foreigners, among them, there are foreigners with legal status such as European residents and foreigners with specific status or awaiting regularization.

This statistic shows the distribution of the French population by origin as of January 1, 2021. It displays that 87.7 percent of the resident population acquired French nationality at birth.

This statistic illustrates the number of Millennials within the French population in 2024, according to their age group and in millions. Out of approximately 68 million French people in 2024, almost eight million were between 25 and 34 years old. The group aged 20 to 24 had about four million less of representative people.

This statistic shows the total population of France from 2019 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. In 2022, the total population of France amounted to 65.93 million people. See the population of Italy for comparison. France's population Although the total French population has annually increased, population growth has been in a slump from 2006 to 2012. However, the decrease of population growth is seemingly irrelative to births in the country, primarily because France’s fertility rate has remained relatively steady over the past decade, based on information from 2011. Yearly population growth could potentially be attributed to a positive lifestyle in the country and a steady economic growth. France is ranked in the top 30 countries with the highest Human Development Index , also known as HDI, which is determined based on life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, education levels and gross national income per capita. France, in this case, was ranked 12th out of the top 20 countries with the highest life expectancy in 2011. From an economic standpoint, France has remained stable, despite several complications within the European Union. Since the 2008 financial crisis, France’s unemployment rate has increased and has experienced several swings year-to-year up until 2014. However, despite fluctuating unemployment rates, GDP growth has very slightly been on the rise on a yearly basis, ever since experiencing a dramatic drop in 2009. Additionally, the GDP itself has continuously been fluctuating since 2008), after enduring a continuous increase in the years prior.

This statistic depicts a forecast of the distribution of the French population between 2030 and 2070, by age group. During the study period, the share of French people older than 75 years old should go from approximately 12 percent up to almost 18 percent of the total population.

In 2024, the female population in France amounted to more than 35 million. Like most of other European countries, France has a female population larger than its male population.

Female population in France

According to the source, the female population in France is increasing since 2004. That year there were more than 32 million women in France, compared to 34.1 million ten years later. Surprisingly, the total number of male births has always been higher than the total number of female births. However, life expectancy in the country is higher for women and the proportion between men and women in France appear to stabilize over time.

Women live longer than men

Studies have shown that the life expectancy at birth was higher than females than for male. In 2023, a baby boy born in France had a life expectancy of 80 years, while it reached 85.7 years for a baby girl. In Europe, as well, as in France, life expectancy gap between men and women is a consistent trend. Health issues and a riskier lifestyle could explain why women outlive men. In 2018, Madrid was the European area where both men and women had the longest life expectancy. It reached 87.8 years for females and 82.2 for males.

This statistic shows the share of the population in France in 2022, by nationality status. It appears that French-born citizens accounted for almost 88 percent of the French population, while 7.8 percent of the people living in France in 2022 were foreigners.

The annual population growth in France decreased by 0.02 percentage points (-6.45 percent) compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher population growth than the preceding years.Population growth refers to the annual change in population, and is based on the balance between birth and death rates, as well as migration.Find more key insights for the annual population growth in countries like Luxembourg and Monaco.

Since 2006, France has seen an increase in the population aged 65 and over, while over the same period, the French population aged 59 and under has stagnated or even decreased for the 20-59 age group. While approximately 10 million French people were over 65 in 2006, there were 14.39 million in 2023.

The population density in France was 123.27 people per square kilometer (47.24 per square mile) in 2021. This number has been slowly increasing for the past ten years. Higher population density is associated with urbanization, but not necessarily economic growth.

Comparative densities

France’s population density is higher than the European average. In fact, it is higher than any region except Asia, as well as the total world population density. This is likely due to the number of large cities in France. The country has one of the largest urban populations in the world. This shapes the French economic and social landscapes; the cities become more expensive, but they also bring more economic opportunities. These opportunites attract people both from the French countryside and other countries who hope to benefit from such jobs.

A tale of two countries

For those who can afford it, Paris can be a cosmopolitan paradise. However, with the average price of a rental apartment twice that of most other French cities, few can afford to live in the richest parts of the city. This stark difference in costs implies that average annual wages should have a similar difference between cities. While this is not a perfectly even cause and effect, it gives some explanation for the increasing population density of France.

This graph represents the total population in France distributed by age groups between 2006 and 2022, in millions of people. In 2022, it is estimated that there were about 15.37 million French people aged between less than a year and 19 years.

The information above provides insights on the average age of the French population between the years 2010 and 2023. We can thus observe that the average age of the French has continued to increase over the ten years presented: from 40.1 years on average, the French are passed to 42.4 years of average age.

The statistic depicts the median age in France between 1950 and 2100. The median age of a population is an index that divides the population into two equal groups: half of the population is older than the median age and the other half younger. In 2024, the median age of France's population was 42.07 years.