French population grew in 2014, a little bit
France had 66.3 million inhabitants at the beginning of 2015, an increase of 0.4 percent or 300,000 people since the start of the previous year, according to official figures released Tuesday by the National Institute for Statistic and Economics Studies.
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Of these, 64.2 million resided in metropolitan France, with 2.1 million living in overseas departments and territories.
The increase was mainly sustained by the number of births (820,000) exceeding the number of deaths (556,000).
The overal number of foreigners living in France also increased by 33,000 people, a figure calculated by subtracting the number of departures from the number of entries.
The figures showed a slightly aging population, with 18.4 percent of the population over 65 years of age, up from 17.9 percent the previous year. The figure has grown each year since 2011, when the first of the baby boomer generation turned 65.
French people are also living longer, with life expectancy of 79.2 years for men and 85.4 years for women. The life expectancy has increased 3.6 years for women and 5.6 years for men over the past 20 years.
Along with Ireland, France remained the most fertile country in the European Union, with an average of two children per woman.
The number of marriages was also up, with 241,000 tying the knot in 2014, an increase of 2,400 from the previous year.
The increase is attributed to the 10,000 same-sex marriages registered during the first first complete year in which two people of the same sex could legally marry.
It marks an increase to the 7,500 same-sex marriages registered in 2013, after the law was promulgated in May of that year.
The number of opposite-sex marriages decreased slightly in 2014.
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