Although the French population grew by 0,3 percent to over 68 million people in 2022, the national statistics agency says its the lowest number since 1946. Meanwhile, China, the world's most populous nation saw a significant drop in its population between 2021 and 2022.
In 2022, 723,000 French children saw the light of the day, 19,000 less than the year before, and the lowest number since 1946.
Over the same period, there were 667,000 deaths -a slight increase over 2021 (662,000) as a result of ageing, the Covid-19 pandemic and heat waves.
The figures were published by the the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) in its yearly report on France's demography.
The report says that the overall population balance remained positive, with a surplus of 56,000 people, but, says it is at the "lowest level since the end of the Second World War."
The growth of the French population was also driven by net migration (+161,000 people), the (positive) difference between the number of people entering the territory and those leaving.
Decline in fertility
According to Insee, the low birth rate may be a direct result of a decline in fertility.
The fertility rate stood at 1.80 children per woman last year, down from 1.84 in 2021. Since 2015, there’s been a steady decline in overall birth rates after it was stable around two children per woman in a period between 2006 and 2014.
In spite of this, France remains the most fertile country in the European Union with 1.82 children per woman, just ahead of Romania with 1.80.
For 2022, the total number of France’s deceased was slightly lower than the figure of 2020, the year marked by the Covid-19 epidemic (-0.3%), but significantly higher than that of 2019 (+ 8.8%).
Overall life expectancy was 85.2 years for women and 79.3 years for men, some 0.4 years lower than those of 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chinese population on the wane
On 15 November 2022, the total world population surpassed the 8 billion mark.
But China, the world's most populous country, is facing a looming demographic crisis as its workforce ages, which analysts warn could slow down economic growth and put pressure on public coffers.
According to the latest figures of China's National Bureau of Statistics, the mainland Chinese population stood at around 1,412 billion at the end of 2022, a decrease of 850,000 compared to 2021.
Analysts point to the soaring cost of living, as well as a growing number of women in the workforce and seeking higher education, as reasons behind the slowdown.
The number of births was 9.56 million, the NBS said, while the number of deaths stood at 10.41 million.
The last time China's population declined was in the early 1960s, when the country was battling the worst famine in its modern history, a result of the disastrous Mao Zedong agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward.
China ended its strict one-child policy, imposed in the 1980s owing to fears of overpopulation, in 2016 and began allowing couples to have three children in 2021.
But that has failed to reverse the demographic decline for a country that has long relied on its vast workforce as a driver of economic growth.
(With agencies)
