(LifeSiteNews) — France recorded more deaths than births in 2024, revealing the coming population crisis.
According to a report by the Population Research Institute (PRI), births were lower than deaths in France for the first time in 80 years. The European country recorded 650,000 births versus 651,000 deaths, in what PRI calls a “historic demographic turning point.”
READ: Abortions on rise in France despite massive funding for contraception
“Declining fertility since 2010 and rising deaths as baby boomers age have pushed the nation into natural population decline,” the report states. “Unlike Germany and Spain, which offset losses more through immigration, France has no clear strategy. With fertility falling across Europe and immigration debates intensifying, France faces a future of economic strain, cultural uncertainty, and a population now shrinking from within.”
“France has long paid subsidies to families willing to have children,” said Steven Mosher, population expert and president of PRI. “But these monthly payments have done little to raise the birth rate in France or, for that matter, in any of the two dozen or so European countries which have tried them.”
“Only sheltering young couples willing to have children from all taxes will create the kind of financial incentives needed to boost the birth rate,” he continued. “Bringing in massive numbers of immigrants to replace the current population—which seems to be the French approach—is a ‘solution’ that creates more problems—cultural, social, political, and religious—than it solves.”
While population collapse in France appears to be imminent, its fertility rate of 1.62 children per woman is still the highest in the European Union, compared to the European average of 1.4. The European countries with the lowest birth rate are Malta (1.06), Spain (1.12), and Lithuania (1.18).
South Korea currently has the lowest birth rate in the world, standing at only 0.75 children per woman. PRI warns that the Asian country “faces a looming population crisis.”
“With one in five South Koreans already over 65, the country risks economic decline and social strain,” the report states.