PARIS: France recorded more deaths than births in 2025 for the first time since the end of World War Two, a development that erodes its long-held demographic advantage over other European Union nations, official figures showed on Tuesday.

The national statistics institue INSEE reported 651,000 deaths last year and 645,000 births, which have collapsed in number since the global Covid pandemic.

France has traditionally had stronger demographics than most of Europe, but an aging population and falling birth rates show it is not immune to the demographic crunch straining public finances across the continent.

INSEE said the fertility rate dropped to 1.56 children per woman last year, its lowest level since the World War One and well below the 1.8 assumed in pension funding forecasts by the pension advisory council. In 2023, the most recent year with EU comparisons, France ranked second highest with a fertility rate of 1.65, behind Bulgaria’s 1.81.

The demographic shift will push public spending back to pandemic-era highs in the coming years while eroding the tax base, the national public audit office warned last month.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2026