France saw a 14% decline in its birth rate between 2010 and 2022, and a further 11% drop between 2022 and 2025, new data from Insee has revealed.
While the birth rate in France has now reached its lowest level for a century, the extent of the decline varied ‘considerably’ across territories, the statistics body noted.
Nearly four in ten French departments, primarily in northern and central France, experienced particularly sharp falls in births due to a combination of declining fertility, ageing populations and the movement of women of childbearing age to other regions.
Population inflows
By contrast, more economically attractive areas, including parts of the Atlantic coast as well as the Île-de-France and Lyon regions, saw population inflows that helped offset some of the impact of lower fertility rates.
Migration of younger adults into these areas provided a degree of demographic renewal despite the broader national trend.
Urban vs rural
The analysis also highlights significant differences between urban and rural areas, Insee noted. Smaller urban areas with fewer than 200,000 residents experienced the largest declines in births, reflecting both lower fertility and limited demographic renewal.
Larger metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 700,000 were more resilient, as inward migration partially compensated for declining fertility. However, even within these urban centres, the distribution of births has changed over time.
According to Insee, births have increasingly shifted away from city centres towards surrounding municipalities, reflecting residential mobility patterns as families move to suburban areas. This trend suggests that while major urban regions continue to attract younger populations, family formation is increasingly taking place outside the urban core. Read more here.
