Recent Demographic Trends in France: The Number of Marriages Continues to Decrease

On 1 January 2014, the population of France was 66 million (of which 63.9 million in metropolitan France), an increase of 0.42% with respect to the previous year. In 2012, 180,000 residence permits were issued to immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Area, a majority of these to women. Half of the permits were issued for family reasons, and a quarter for education. Fertility decreased slightly, to 1.99 children per woman. As the proportion of women of reproductive age in the population also fell and the total population increased, this fertility decline was associated with a decrease in the birth rate in 2013. After a slight increase in 2012, the number of marriages fell once again: according to provisional data, 231,000 marriages were registered in 2013. Marriage was opened to same-sex couples on 17 May 2013, and 7,000 same-sex marriages were registered between May and December 2013. A total of 168,000 PACS (civil unions) were registered in 2013. The number of deaths in 2013 is provisionally estimated at 572,000, and in metropolitan France the number surpassed 560,000. Women’s life expectancy was 85.0 years and that of men was 78.7 years, a gap of 6.3 years, down slightly with respect to 2012.