Life expectancy in France has hardly increased for three years, according to a study

The life expectancy of the French has not caught up to its level before the Covid-19 epidemic.

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Posted on 22/03/2023 00:05

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In 2022, life expectancy for men was 79.3 years and 85.2 years for women. Illustrative photo. (VINCENT ISORE / MAXPPP)

Life expectancy in France has barely increased over the past three years. This is revealed by a study by the Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) published on Wednesday 22 March. In 2022, life expectancy for men was 79.3 years. They gained a little more than a month of life compared to the previous year. For women, it remains at 85.2 years.

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The level of French life expectancy has not caught up with that before Covid-19. With the epidemic which killed more than 160,000 people, it fell sharply. In 2019, it was 79.7 years for men and 85.6 years for women. And between 2020 and 2021, it only increased slightly, by 0.1 years for both women and men.

With the Covid, the flu and the heat waves, the last three years have been deadly. But even before that, the curve of life expectancy had already been rising for a few years, but it was leveling off. The author of this report from the Institute for Demographic Studies does not indicate whether a ceiling has been reached.

This study also notes that the number of births has declined. There were 723,000 in 2022, compared to 742,000 in 2021. INED notes that there was not the baby boom hoped for from the 2020 and 2021 confinements. birth seasons, usually more numerous in summer.