The population of France in 2001

• The mortality decline continues
• Births are stable
• Average age of mothers at childbearing continues to rise
• PACS in winter, marriages in summer
• What about other European countries?

On 1st January 2002, the population of metropolitan France was estimated to be 59.3 million to which must be added another 1.8 million living in the French overseas departments, bringing the total to 61.1 million [1]. The population in metropolitan France increased by a little more than 300,000 (+0.5%) in 2001, very similar to the year 2000, since the number of births was unchanged and there were slightly fewer deaths (see table on page 3).

Gilles Pison