The daily Le Figaro reported on the 23rd (local time) that France has recorded more deaths than births for the first time since World War II.
This tally was analyzed by economist François Gerolf based on data from the local statistics office. According to the data, as of May this year, the number of recorded deaths over the past 12 months stood at 651,200, which is 800 more than the number of births (650,400) during the same period.
Gerolf noted that the negative turning point in natural population growth was initially expected to occur around 2027, which is two years earlier than anticipated.
Local sources attribute this trend to a decline in the birth rate over the past decade. France's total fertility rate (the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime) was estimated at 1.62, down from 1.66 the previous year. In contrast, the number of deaths continues to rise as the baby boomer generation ages.
The local statistics office predicts that if this trend continues, the working population will begin to decline after 2040.