List of presidents of France by longevity

The median age of accession is roughly 60 years and 257 days, which falls between Albert Lebrun and Gaston Doumergue. The youngest person to assume office was Emmanuel Macron (age 39 years, 144 days). The oldest person to assume office was Adolphe Thiers (age 74 years, 135 days).

The oldest living former president is François Hollande, born 12 August 1954 (aged 66 years, 173 days). The youngest living former president is Nicolas Sarkozy, born 28 January 1955 (aged 66 years, 4 days). The youngest living president is the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, born 21 December 1977 (aged 43 years, 42 days).

The longest-lived president was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who died at the age of 94 years and 304 days. The shortest-lived president was Sadi Carnot, who was killed in office at the age of 56 years, 318 days.

The president with the longest retirement is Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. He left office on 21 May 1981 and died 39 years and 195 days later on 2 December 2020. He surpassed the previous record, held by Émile Loubet (23 years, 305 days) on 22 March 2005. The president with the shortest retirement is François Mitterrand, who died on 8 January 1996, 236 days after he left office on 17 May 1995.

This List contains:

Order	President	Date of Birth	Zodiac sign
1	Nicolas Sarkozy	28 January	Aquarius
2	Félix Faure	30 January
3	Valéry Giscard d’Estaing	2 February
4	Alexandre Millerand	10 February
5	Paul Deschanel	13 February
6	René Coty	20 March	Pisces
7	Paul Doumer	22 March	Aries
8	Adolphe Thiers	16 April
9	Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte	20 April
10	Patrice de Mac-Mahon	13 June	Gemini
11	Georges Pompidou	5 July	Cancer
12	Gaston Doumergue	1 August	Leo
13	Sadi Carnot	11 August
14	François Hollande	12 August
15	Jules Grévy	15 August
16	Raymond Poincaré	20 August
17	Vincent Auriol	27 August	Virgo
18	Albert Lebrun	29 August
19	François Mitterrand	26 October	Scorpio
20	Armand Fallières	6 November
21	Jean Casimir-Perier	8 November
22	Charles de Gaulle	22 November	Sagittarius
23	Jacques Chirac	29 November
24	Emmanuel Macron	21 December	Capricorn
25	Émile Loubet	31 December

• Births by Century
  • 18th century: 1st (and only), Adolphe Thiers
  • 19th century: 1st, Jules Grevy; last, Charles de Gaulle
  • 20th century: 1st, Georges Pompidou; most recent, Emmanuel Macron
• Deaths by Century
  • 19th century: 1st, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte; last, Felix Faure
  • 20th century: 1st, Jean Casimir-Perier; last, François Mitterrand
  • 21st century: 1st, Jacques Chirac; most recent, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
• Between the births of Adolphe Thiers in 1797 and Emmanuel Macron in 1977, a President has been born in every decade except for the 1810s, 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1960s.
• Between the deaths of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in 1873 and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 2020, a President has died in every decade except for the 1880s, 1910s, 1980s and 2000s.
• The months with the most presidential births – seven – in August.
• No president as of yet, has been born in May, or September.
• The months with the most presidential deaths – three – each in January, April, June, and September.
• No president as of yet, has died in July or August

This is a chronological list of all who served as the President of France and were still living, at different periods in history. There have been 10 time periods when there was only one living president, first with the inauguration of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1848 and most recently with the inauguration of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1974 following the death of Georges Pompidou.

There have been four time periods when 5 living current or former presidents co-existed. The earliest period was from the September 1920 inauguration of Alexandre Millerand to the April 1922 death of Paul Deschanel. The second and the longest period was a five-year period beginning with the June 1924 inauguration of Gaston Doumergue to the December 1929 death of Émile Loubet. The third period was a nine-day period from the inauguration of Paul Doumer on 13 June 1931 to the 22 June 1931 death of Armand Fallières. The fourth and most recent period was from the May 2017 inauguration of Emmanuel Macron to the September 2019 death of Jacques Chirac.

If one includes future presidents as well as past and current presidents, there has been only one time period when 16 different presidents co-existed. (see Statistics)

• There have been ten men who have been the only living president: Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (as the first, from 20 December 1848 to 31 August 1871), Adolphe Thiers (from Bonaparte's death on 9 January 1873 to 24 May 1873), Patrice de Mac-Mahon (from Thiers' death on 3 September 1877 to 30 January 1879), Sadi Carnot (from de Mac-Mahon's death on 16 October 1893 to 25 June 1894), Jean Casimir-Perier (from Carnot's death on 25 June 1894 to 17 January 1895), Albert Lebrun (from Millerand's death on 7 April 1943 to 16 January 1947), Vincent Auriol (from Lebrun's death on 6 March 1950 to 16 January 1954), Charles de Gaulle (from Auriol's death on 1 January 1966 to 20 June 1969), Georges Pompidou (from de Gaulle's death on 9 November 1970 to 2 April 1974), and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (from his inauguration on 27 May 1974 to 21 May 1981).
• During four periods in the History of France, have there been 5 persons alive to have been president. The first such period was from 23 September 1920 to 28 April 1922 (when Émile Loubet, Armand Fallières, Raymond Poincaré, Paul Deschanel, and Alexandre Millerand were alive. The second was from 13 June 1924 to 20 December 1929 (when Émile Loubet, Armand Fallières, Raymond Poincaré, Alexandre Millerand, and Gaston Doumergue were alive. The third was from 13 June 1931 to 22 June 1931 (when Armand Fallières, Raymond Poincaré, Alexandre Millerand, Gaston Doumergue, and Paul Doumer were alive. The fourth and most recent period was from 14 May 2017 to 26 September 2019 (with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande, and Emmanuel Macron as the living presidents). The earliest of these periods consisted of each president inaugurated consecutively. The longest period where there have been 5 living presidents was 5 years and 190 days, ending with the death of Émile Loubet in December 1929.
• Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was the only person to be both an only living president (from 27 May 1974 to 21 May 1981) and one of the five living presidents (from 14 May 2017 to 26 September 2019).
• There have been 11 administrations during which a president has not died, the most recent being the administration of François Hollande. This does not include the administration of Félix Faure (who was himself the only president to die during his administration).
  • Conversely, only during the administrations of Sadi Carnot, Albert Lebrun, Charles de Gaulle, and Emmanuel Macron has there been as many as two deaths during an administration (This does not include the administrations of Paul Doumer and Georges Pompidou, whose own deaths were the second during their administrations).
• Because he's the longest serving president, and also due to the fact that no president died during his administration, François Mitterrand holds the distinction of serving for the longest period without the death of a president during his term (13 years and 361 days).
  • If the longest period between deaths is to be exceeded, no president must die before 21 August 2044 (the current oldest and second oldest surviving presidents, François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, would then be 90 and 89 years old respectively).
• The longest period between deaths of presidents was the 23 years and 261 days between the deaths of François Mitterrand on 8 January 1996 and Jacques Chirac on 26 September 2019. The shortest was the 317 days between the deaths of Armand Fallières on 22 June 1931 and Paul Doumer on 7 May 1932.
  • The second longest period is the 22 years and 284 days between the deaths of Jean Casimir-Perier on 11 March 1907 and Émile Loubet on 20 December 1929.
• Following their administrations' end in 1906, 1913, and 1920 respectively, Émile Loubet, Armand Fallières, and Raymond Poincaré all lived to see a record 5 administrations prior to their deaths in December 1929, June 1931, and October 1934 respectively. In modern times, the president to have lived to see the most administrations following their own was Valéry Giscard d’Estaing also with 5 following the end of his administration in 1981.
• If one includes future as well as past and current presidents, the record sits at 16:
  • Between Charles de Gaulle's birth on 22 November 1890 and Jules Grévy's death on 9 September 1891, the following presidents were alive: Patrice de Mac-Mahon, Jules Grévy, Sadi Carnot, Jean Casimir-Perier, Félix Faure, Émile Loubet, Armand Fallières, Raymond Poincaré, Paul Deschanel, Alexandre Millerand, Gaston Doumergue, Paul Doumer, Albert Lebrun, Vincent Auriol, René Coty, and Charles de Gaulle.
• Since the inauguration of François Mitterrand on 21 May 1981 (a period of 39 years, 256 days), there have been at least two presidents living.

Not all presidents live to become the oldest of their time. Of the 22 deceased presidents, 18 eventually became the oldest of their time, while 4 did not (Raymond Poincaré, Paul Deschanel, Gaston Doumergue, and Jacques Chirac being the only exceptions). Émile Loubet became the oldest living president when Félix Faure died in 1899 and remained so until his death in 1929, for a record single period of 30 years, 307 days. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing surpassed Loubet's record on 18 November 2019, however because Giscard d'Estaing held this distinction on two separate occasions, Loubet's record for a single period still stands. Jean Casimir-Perier became the oldest living president after the death of Marie Carnot, but he held this distinction for only 206 days.

On five occasions the oldest living president lost this distinction not by his death, but due to the inauguration of a president who was older. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte lost this distinction when Adolphe Thiers was inaugurated. Patrice de Mac-Mahon lost this distinction when Jules Grévy was inaugurated, but when Grévy died in 1891, de Mac-Mahon regained it again until his own death in 1893 for a total period of 3 years and 186 days. Jean Casimir-Perier lost this distinction when Félix Faure was inaugurated. Vincent Auriol lost this distinction when René Coty was inaugurated, but when Coty died in 1962, Auriol regained it again until his own death in 1966 for a total period of 6 years, 356 days. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing lost this distinction when François Mitterrand was inaugurated, but regained it again when Mitterrand died. Consequently, Giscard d'Estaing too was the oldest living president twice: first from 1974 to 1981 (from his inauguration after the death of Georges Pompidou), and a second time from Mitterand's death in 1996 until his own death in 2020, for a record total period of 31 years and 323 days.

Armand Fallières was the oldest to acquire this distinction at the age of 88 years, 44 days. Jacques Chirac, who was aged 86 years, 301 days when he died on 26 September 2019, was the oldest and most recent president to die without ever acquiring this distinction.

• Lists of political office-holders by age