Paris - Boasting one of the highest fertility rates in Europe, France saw its population grow by 0.6 per cent last year, to an estimated 64.3 million people, the government's statistics office INSEE said on Tuesday. Some 834,000 children were born on French territory in 2008, the highest number since 1981, INSEE said. That figure was all the more remarkable in that the number of child-bearing women has declined by some 2 per cent since 1999.
France's population growth was therefore the result of a fertility rate that surpassed the threshold of 2 children per female, which represents the highest rate, along with that of Ireland, among the 27 members of the European Union.
In addition, the percentage of children born out of wedlock continued to increase in France, with more than 52 per cent registered last year, an increase of 10 per cent over 10 years, INSEE said.
At the same time, both life expectancy and infant mortality rate remained stable in 2008.
A boy born in France last year can expect to live 77.5 years, while the life expectancy of a French girl born in 2008 was 84.3 years, virtually the same as in 2007.
French infant mortality rate stood at 3.8 per 1,000 births in 2008, identical to that from the previous two years but considerably improved over the figure of 4.8 in 1998.
