PARIS, March 24 (AFP) - By passing the 80 year mark for the first time ever, France now has the second highest life expectancy in the world after Japan - according to a study released Thursday - but the steady ageing of the population will have huge repercussions in the future.

The 2004 annual report from the National Institute for Demographic Studies(INED) found that French women can now expect to live for 83.8 years and men for 76.7 years - an average of more than 80 years for the first time in history.

A woman born today in France has a one in two chance of living beyond 94 years of age, and 16 percent of them will reach 100, the report said.

Only in Japan with an expectancy of 82 - 85 for women and 77 for men - do people live longer. In Europe, France leads the table ahead of Spain on 79.5 years - according to the World Health Organisation - followed by Italy and Britain. The US average is 77.2 years.

France's progress follows 60 years of steadily rising life expectancy, but the increase of the past two years has been unexpectedly fast, INED found.

In 1950 French people lived an average of 66 years, and in 1980 the figure had risen to 74 years. In 2003 expectancy rates were affected by a summer heatwave, which is estimated to have killed 15,000 old people, and hit 82.9 for women and 75.9 for men.

"But if we compare the results with 2002 we find that life expectancy has gone up by ten months in two years. That is far faster than the rate recorded over the last half century," the report said.

The improvement was due to advances in the fight against cancer and heart disease, more extensive screening against diseases, and lower rates of smoking and alcoholism - particularly among men, INED said.

But the 2003 heatwave also had an effect in boosting the figures, by encouraging greater awareness of the health problems of old people living alone, the health ministry said.

French newspapers Thursday celebrated the breakthrough past the symbolic 80 mark, but many also warned that the growing demographic age-bulge will bring awkward social and economic costs.

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