UK vs France - 300 years of population change

geo.universe:

🇬🇧🇫🇷 UK vs France - 300 years of population change in one glance!

From the 1700s to 2025, these two neighbours followed very different demographic paths.

📜 Then
• 1710:
UK - 7.3M
France - 22.5M

France was already a demographic giant while Britain was still a small island nation.

🏭 Industrial boom
• 1800–1900:
The UK explodes from 10.8M → 41M
France grows more slowly from 29M → 40M

🇬🇧 Britain overtakes France around 1900.

👶 Fertility collapse
Throughout the 20th century both countries saw fertility fall below replacement level - especially the UK after 1950.

🌍 What keeps them growing today?
2025 estimates:
• UK - 69.5M (fertility 1.39)
  ➕ +8.28M net migration since 1990
  ➕ +4.4M natural growth

• France - 68.6M (fertility 1.58)
  ➕ +3.2M net migration since 1990
  ➕ +6.64M natural growth

➡️ The UK now relies much more on immigration, while France still gets more growth from births.

📉 Both countries are aging fast - and without migration, population decline would already be reality.

Collection: population - Tags: uk, france, population - Source: instagram.com