According to the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, the current population of France is above 65 million, and is increasing at a rate of 300,000 people per year. The French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, called the Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE) in French, is responsible for performing the census in France and is the French branch of the European Statistical System. The demographics of France show that more than 95% of the French population lives in metropolitan areas.

The past details of the demographics of France prove that the population had experienced very slow growth in the first half of the twentieth century while other nations surrounding France, including Germany, were having very high population growth. To worsen this situation, the population decreased considerably during the two consecutive world wars, as there were large scale casualties caused due to heavy bombing in French territories.

There was a time when France had the highest population in Europe, mainly the period around the seventeenth century. However, the situation after the two wars was exactly the opposite, and many neighboring countries had estimated it would worsen in coming years. As a result of the government policies, the French population experienced a strong boom in the years following the Second World War. In recent years, France has surpassed even Germany, which has got zero population growth.

The other important part of the demographics of France is that nearly 10% of the total French population”which amounts to roughly six million people”are foreigners who migrated to France in the last few decades of the twentieth century. The majority of these immigrants are from different parts of Europe, along with significant numbers from Africa. The immigrant population as per the demographics of France are from countries that include but are not limited to: Cambodia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.

According to the demographics of France, around 60% of France’s population practices Roman Catholicism as their religion. This figure is decreasing day by day, mainly because many Catholics have started becoming non-religious. The other faith that has a major following in France is the Islamic religion. More than 10% of the French population follows some form of Islamic faith. The Protestant population is reduced to one million people in recent years, according to the demographics of France.