Mortality: France beats its record for 30 years

Unheard of for 30 years. In 2013, 569,200 people died in France. In detail, 70% of deaths take place in health establishments or retirement homes. And 25% at home.

The number of deaths is again very high in France. This is what emerges from the latest INSEE study (1) published a few days ago. Thus, 569,200 people died in France in 2013. This is the highest level for 30 years. But don’t panic, the Institute explains this by the structure of the population living in France.

Life expectancy keeps increasing
Indeed, according to these statisticians, the generations at ages of high mortality are slightly more numerous than in the past in France. Previously, these were those born during the First World War. Today, they are a little more important and born between the two wars.
Irrespective of these effects related to the size of the generations, the death rate at each age decreases steadily over the years, so that thelife expectancy keeps increasing. As a result, deaths are the most numerous at 87 years old for men (9,800 deaths in 2013), and 92 years old for women (14,200).

Half of the deaths take place in the department where the deceased was born
In addition, at the regional level, 60% of deaths that occurred in France in 2013 took place in the region of birth of the deceased. This is less the case for people born in Ile-de-France (43%), Languedoc-Roussillon (44%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (37%).
The latter indeed exerts a strong power of attraction on the oldest populations who come to settle there in large numbers. In addition, most of those born in PACA (80%) die in their region as in Alsace and Rhône-Alpes.

70% of deaths take place in a health establishment or retirement home
Finally, due to the good network of hospitals, clinics and retirement homes in the region, 57% of deaths occur in health establishments and 12% in retirement homes.
As a result, deaths are concentrated in municipalities with hospitals, private clinics or retirement homes. As proof, half of the deaths that occurred in 2013 were concentrated in only 260 municipalities and three quarters in 1,070 municipalities, out of the 36,700 in France.
Along with these figures, a quarter of deaths still occur at home. Deaths in the overseas departments stand out in this regard since 40% of them take place at home and only 3% in retirement homes.