COPY LINK

STATISTICS

France records growing number of supercentenarians

The number of people in France living beyond 110 years is growing fast, the national demographic studies institute has revealed, with women dominating the supercentenarian contest.

Published: 24 April 2024 15:15 CEST

Four older men sitting around a table outside, playing cards

People are living longer in France. (Photo by Julie SEBADELHA / AFP)

The phenomenon was scarcely recorded in France until the late 1980s, but in 2022 the authorities recorded 39 cases of people living for 110 years or more, the Institut national d’études démographiques (INED) said in a report.

Centenarians, meanwhile, have seen a “spectacular” rise in numbers, INED said, growing from around 1,000 in 1970, to 8,000 in 2000, and rising 31,000 at the start of this year.

On current trends, 200,000 people in France will be 100 or older by 2070, it said.

“We’re seeing a spectacular rise of very old people,” France Mesle, one of the report’s authors, told AFP, although she added that their number was still “negligible” in demographic terms. France’s overall population is around 68 million, with more than 20 percent aged 65 or over.

The statistics are consistent with an earlier finding showing that the probability of reaching 100 or more is higher in France than in 15 other European countries.

French women have the highest life expectancy in the European Union, reported at 85.2 years in 2022. France also counted the EU’s highest number of centenarians last year, according the national statistics institute Insee.

Two of the four individuals worldwide recognized as having lived more than 118 years are French women: Jeanne Calment, the oldest recorded person who died at 122 years and 5 months, and Lucile Randon, who died just before her 119th birthday.

Around 2,000 people in France were 105 years old or older in 2023. Of the 39 people who died at 110 or older in 2022, 38 were women.

They were typically involved in manual occupations such as farming, and their diet was healthy, said Laurent Toussaint, an expert on supercentenarians.

While the number of supercentenarians is evenly spread across metropolitan France, eight times as many can be found on average in the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The report said there was no clear explanation for this phenomenon. It said, however, that the island populations, mostly descendants of slavery survivors, may have inherited more robust genes adding to their longevity than population segments that were never exposed to slavery.

Marie-Rose Tessier, believed to be the oldest person in France, is 113 years and 11 months old.

The oldest person in the world is Maria Branyas Morera, 117, who lives in Spain, according to the US Gerontology Research Group.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

The different ways you can make a doctor's appointment in France

You do not need a carte vitale to book a doctor’s appointment in France – anyone who needs medical help while in the country is entitled to it, but you may not be entitled to any reimbursement if you are not part of the social security system.

Booking a GP’s appointment can be as simple as phoning up your friendly neighbourhood GP, or using an online service such as Doctolib.

It helps a lot, if you have a médecin traitant – an attending GP, who adds you (and your family, if they can) to their list of patients.

It is not always easy to find one. Some parts of the country are short of GPs, which means doctors’ lists can fill up very quickly. But it is important that anyone who lives in France is registered with a named GP, especially if they have a carte vitale.

As well as being the main point of contact between patients and the medical profession in all its guises, it is financially responsible to be registered with a GP in France.

Reimbursement on consultations is typically 70 percent through the French healthcare system, but just 30 percent for anyone without a declared doctor. Meanwhile, top-up mutuelle health insurance companies usually require you to declare a médecin traitant and if you don’t, you may not be able to receive reimbursements on certain treatments.

Bear in mind, it is your responsibility to register with a local médecin traitant. But, even after you have done so, you can still make an appointment with any doctor, anywhere in France, and arrange specialist treatment, if you need it.

How do you go about making a GP appointment in France?

There are several options.

Some health centres – more often in larger towns and cities – operate a walk-in policy. But expect waits to be lengthy. Do not, however, assume that your GP operates a system like this.

You can phone for an appointment. This is another very common method. Your GP will have their own system for making appointments – which may even include something that looks, to the uninitiated, very much like a casual walk-in policy.

Some may have an assistant to deal with booking appointments and other administration. Others may deal with appointments themselves, and may – for example – operate some sort of triage system based on voice messages from patients.

What about online booking systems?

And many practitioners are now attached to websites, such as Doctolib. As of 2023, about half of all GP appointments in France were made using Doctolib.

Be aware that other online booking systems are available. Doctolib is one of the best known, but your GP may be attached to another system, like the health ministry approved site ‘LeMedecin.Fr’.

This website also has a feature where you can take an immediate online consultation with whatever doctor is available at that moment. By clicking ‘Consultez en vidéo maintenant’ you will be connected to the next doctor who is free. This option may involve an additional charge between €5-10 on top of the price of the consultation, and you will be expected to pay when booking.

If you have any trouble with either of these websites, you can go through the list of registered generalists per département on the ‘Ameli’ website. If you use this option, you will need to call the doctor to see if they are open or available for appointments.

In terms of wait times, online systems have helped to significantly reduce the delay between booking and getting an appointment.

According to a 2023 study by Doctolib, about half of all GP appointments were available within three days from the time of booking on their platform.

Similarly, you can use online platforms to check the medical professional’s qualifications and languages spoken, as well as filter based on the doctor’s English abilities. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt because not every medical professional with English listed on their Doctolib page speaks fluent English.

An increasing number of doctorsoffer video consultations, known as télémédecine in France. This allows professionals – particularly those in more rural areas – to diagnose less serious conditions remotely. This type of consultation is usually only available from those medical practices that are attached to online booking systems.

Some pharmacies have also begun offering walk-in télémedicine consults, using ‘Medadom’ machines. More information here.

What about specialists?

In France, you book your own consultations with specialists, even if you are referred by a doctor (your GP may offer a recommendation, but won’t always). The good news is that many specialists do use online booking services. Those that do not usually have assistants to take care of the appointments.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!