A pregnant woman poses on June 19, 2018 in Vertou, western France. France had an estimated population of 68.4 million by January 1, 2024, representing a further year-on-year increase of 0.3 percent, limited by a marked drop in the birth rate, the INSEE national statistics bureau of France reported on January 16, 2024. In 2023, 678,000 babies were born in France, 6.6 percent fewer than the previous year, the lowest number of births in any year since 1946. Over the same period, there were 631,000 deaths, down 6.5 percent on 2022, a year marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and episodes of extreme heat. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)

Commuters wearing face masks jostle for a ride on a bus discarding social distancing guidelines in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. With a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few weeks, state governments in India have been ordering focused lockdowns in high-risk areas to slow down the spread of infections. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

A mother bear acting as a taxi for her cubs and they jump on for a piggyback. Two sloth bear cubs fighting for the best place on mum's back as she carries them across Coonoor, India in July 2022. (Photo by Ranganathan Vasudevan/Media Drum Images)

Children play with the waves at the Malecon in Havana, on September 29, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Authorities were slowly restoring electricity in Cuba following a power outage in the country caused by Hurricane Ian, which killed two people and left widespread damage. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

A view of children mannequins wrapped in purple and white barricade tape placed in front of the Cologne Cathedral, installed there by German artist Dennis Josef Meseg, called “Shattered Souls – in a Sea of Silence”, to protest against the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany on August 3, 2023. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Men ride a motorcycle in front of destroyed houses after Hurricane Matthew passes Jeremie, Haiti, October 7, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A man wearing a face mask walks his dog as he pulls a trolley after shopping in Beijing on February 13, 2020. The number of deaths and new cases from China's COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak spiked dramatically on February 13 after authorities changed the way they count infections in a move that will likely fuel speculation that the severity of the outbreak has been under-reported. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

A woman wears a face mask in the part of the city near neighbourhoods known for burning coal for heating in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 26, 2017. Not many people in Ulaanbaatar wear masks to protect themselves against pollution. (Photo by B. Rentsendorj/Reuters)