• President: François Mitterrand
• Prime Minister: Michel Rocard

• 15 May – Launch of the Renault Clio supermini, which will eventually replace the Renault 5.^[1]
• 13 July – Loi Gayssot enacted, prohibiting Holocaust denial.
• 14 July – Jean-Michel Jarre performs Paris La Défense – Une Ville En Concert before a world record audience of 2.5 million people.^[2]
• December – Espace Euro Disney, an information hub on the under construction Euro Disney resort near Paris, is opened to the public.^[3]
• 1 December – Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the English Channel seabed.

• 30 June – Tour de France begins.
• 8 July – French Grand Prix won by Alain Prost.
• 22 July – Tour de France ends, won by Greg LeMond of the United States.

• 6 January – Jonathan Matijas
• 10 January – Richard Philippe, motor racing driver.
• 22 January – Alizé Cornet, tennis player.
• 29 January – Francois Civil, actor
• 13 February – Mamadou Sakho, footballer
• 15 February – Charles Pic, motor racing driver.
• 10 March – César Domboy, actor
• 18 March – Ines Rau, transgender model
• 20 March – Stacy Martin, actress
• 26 March – Romain Saïss, Footballer
• 12 April – Ciryl Gane, mixed martial artist
• 19 April – Damien Le Tallec, footballer
• 20 May – Adeline Canac, pair skater.
• 4 June – Tippi Degré, animal handler.
• 11 June – Christophe Lemaitre, sprinter
• 12 June – Jérôme Jarre, vine star.
• 13 July – Alizé Lim, tennis player
• 16 July – Johann Zarco, motorcycle racer
• 20 July – Wendie Renard, footballer
• 12 August – Wissam Ben Yedder, footballer.
• 13 August – Benjamin Stambouli, footballer
• 19 September – Josuha Guilavogui, footballer
• 21 October – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, chess grandmaster.
• 9 November – Romain Bardet, racing cyclist
• 12 November – Florent Manaudou, swimmer
• 25 November – Anouchka Delon, French-Dutch actress
• 19 December –
• 22 December – Jean-Baptiste Maunier, actor and singer.

January to March edit

• 10 January – Juliet Berto, actress (b. 1947).
• 16 January – Robert Lamartine, soccer player (b. 1935).
• 17 January – Charles Hernu, politician and Minister (b. 1923).
• 5 February – Père Marie-Benoît, friar who helped smuggle Jews to safety from Nazi-occupied Southern France (b. 1895).
• 5 February – Joseph Mauclair, cyclist (b. 1906).
• 15 February – Michel Drach, film director, writer, producer and actor (b. 1930).
• 7 March – Claude Arrieu, composer (b. 1903).
• 12 March – Philippe Soupault, poet, novelist, critic and political activist (b. 1897).
• 17 March – Capucine, actress (b. 1928).
• 20 March – Maurice Cloche, film director, screenwriter and film producer (b. 1907).

April to June edit

• 21 April – Romain de Tirtoff, artist and designer (b. 1892).
• 30 June – Jacques Lob, comic book creator (b. 1932).

July to September edit

• 18 July – Yves Chaland, cartoonist (b. 1957).
• 23 July – Pierre Gandon, illustrator and engraver of postage stamps (b. 1899).
• 25 July – Jean Fourastié, economist (b. 1907).
• 1 August – Michel Arnaud, General (b. 1915).
• 6 August – Jacques Soustelle, anthropologist (b. 1912).
• 15 August – Louis Vola, double bass player (b. 1902).
• 20 August – Maurice Gendron, cellist and teacher (b. 1920).
• 30 September – Michel Leiris, surrealist writer and ethnographer (b. 1901).

October to December edit

• 20 October – Colette Audry, novelist, screenwriter and critic (b. 1906).
• 22 October – Louis Althusser, Marxist philosopher (b. 1918).
• 27 October – Jacques Demy, film director (b. 1931).
• October – Alfred Sauvy, demographer, anthropologist and historian (b. 1898).
• 5 November – Raymond Oliver, chef and restaurateur (b. 1909).
• 17 November – Pierre Braunberger, producer and actor (b. 1905).
• 1 December – Simone Melchior, wife and business partner of Jacques-Yves Cousteau (b. 1919).
• 18 December – Paul Tortelier, cellist and composer (b. 1914).
• 19 December – Edmond Delfour, international soccer player, manager (b. 1907).
• 23 December – Serge Danot, animator (b. 1931).
• 23 December – Pierre Gripari, writer (b. 1925).

Full date unknown edit

• Jacques-Laurent Bost, journalist (b. 1916).
• Daniel du Janerand, painter (b. 1919).
• Marcel Légaut, philosopher and mathematician (b. 1900).
• Claude Ponsard, economist (b. 1927).

• List of French films of 1990