Trend summary
- Roads cause most transport deaths: 3,515 in 2025 including the overseas territories, up 2.4%, after a decade stuck between about 3,200 and 3,500 a year.
- At sea, rescue centres counted 82 dead or missing in leisure boating and water sports in summer 2025, and 78 migrants died crossing the Channel in 2024, a record.
- Civil aviation accidents killed 41 people in France in 2025, 38 of them in light aircraft, gliders and microlights.
Stuck on a plateauRoad
3,515 road deaths in 2025, up 2.4%; motorcyclists were 21% of mainland deaths.
Channel deadlierMaritime
82 dead or missing in leisure boating and water sports in summer 2025; 78 Channel migrant deaths in 2024.
Up on 2024Aviation
41 civil aviation deaths in France in 2025; 38 were in light aircraft, gliders and microlights.
How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases and research linked above; where agencies publish provisional numbers we say so, because they are revised. National death data come from Inserm’s cause-of-death centre (CépiDc) and take two to three years to finalise, and some figures cover metropolitan France only while others include the overseas departments, so we say which year, area and source each figure covers. Money is given in euros. Headlines and quotes are our translations from French. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.