2014 demographic balance – Fewer deaths
On 1st January 2015, France had 66.3 million residents: 64.2 million in Metropolitan France and 2.1 million in the five French overseas departments. This is around 300,000 more people than one year ago, an increase of 0.4%. This growth is mainly due to the natural balance, the difference between the numbers of births and deaths. The year 2014 was marked by a steady but still dynamic birth rate (813,000 births excluding Mayotte) and by fewer deaths than in 2012 and 2013 (555,000 deaths excluding Mayotte). Therefore, the natural balance is higher than in the previous two years. Life expectancy, which had reached a standstill, started increasing again. The total fertility rate, still one of the highest in Europe, remained stable. In 2014, 241,000 marriages were celebrated in France: 231,000 between people of different sexes, 10,000 between people of the same sex. The slight increase in marriages between 2013 and 2014 (+ 2,400) is driven by same-sex marriages. After falling sharply in 2011, the number of PACS (Civil Solidarity Pacts), increased again in 2012 to 168,000 declarations in 2013. Probably as a consequence of the adoption of the law on le mariage pour tous (marriage for everyone), the number of PACS declarations by people of the same sex decreased between 2012 and 2013, falling from 7,000 to 6,000 declarations.
