Aging crisis in France: A low birth rate and a rapidly ageing population

Once, France was the dominant nation in Europe, due largely to its enormous population. By the year 1700, about one in twenty-five individuals on the planet were French. In the 18th century, France had such a large population relative to other European countries that it was considered today's China for Europe.

But owing to France's current low birthrate, less than one percent of the world's population is today French.

Notwithstanding the government's assistance programmes, which include adjustments to immigration laws, the birth rate in France has fallen to its lowest level in seventy years.

The number of births in 2022 will be the lowest since 1946, according to the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE). The birth rate in 2022 was the lowest in seven decades, with just 723,000 births.

Many French individuals abandon or postpone their plans for children nowadays. The decline in the number of women aged 20 to 40, or, in other words, women of reproductive age, contributed to the decline in the French birth rate. In France, the average age at which women conceive their first child is 31, up from 29.4.

According to analysts, a decline in the reproduction rate per woman is the primary cause of this catastrophe. There were 1.80 children per woman in 2022, compared to 1.84 children per mother in 2021. From 2006 to 2014, this rate fluctuated somewhat, hovering around two children per woman, but between 2015 and 2020, it started to plummet precipitously.

21.3% of France's population was at least 65 years old on January 1, 2023, compared to 17.2% in 2012. By the beginning of 2023, 23.5% of the French population consisted of people under the age of 20, while 55.2% was composed of those aged 20 to 64.

Last but not least, the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to an economic slump marked by high inflation, a political crisis tied to the armed conflict in Ukraine, and a natural disaster, complicated the decision to have a child in France.